Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr speaks during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2025 Global Aerospace Summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 9, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr is drawing vehement criticism from civil libertarians, both left and right, for his attack on late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
During a September 15 monologue, Carr took exception to MAGA Republicans characterizing Tyler Robinson — the 22-year-old suspect in the murder of turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk — as a leftist. Kimmel argued that Robinson's outlook was MAGA, not left-wing. And after Carr threatened to crack down on media outlets, Disney suspended Kimmel's show indefinitely.
Kimmel told viewers, "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Reactions on the right vary. While some MAGA pundits are defending Carr, Never Trump conservatives and libertarians are accusing him of dangerous overreach. Conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former GOP congressman, slammed Carr for engaging in the type of "cancel culture" they accuse liberals of.
Some libertarians and Never Trumpers agreed with much of what Kimmel said but argued that he should have included the word "allegedly," as Robinson hasn't been convicted.
The conservative National Review's editorial board, meanwhile, has its own take on the Kimmel controversy: abolish the FCC altogether.
In an editorial published on September 19, the Review writers disagree with Kimmel's comments but argue that they didn't merit "threats of government sanction."
"But the laws governing the Federal Communications Commission are broad enough that the agency can police almost any content in broadcast media in the 'public interest,'" the Review editorial board writes. "If we believe that is not the sort of thing the government should be doing, then there is no reason for the FCC to exist. The FCC exerts power over broadcasters by threatening to revoke their licenses. These licenses exist based on the legal fiction that the federal government owns the airwaves because broadcast frequencies are scarce."
The Review editorial writers continue, "This scarcity logic does not apply to other scarce resources — i.e., nearly all resources — and there's no reason for it to apply to broadcast frequencies."
The Review editorial board notes that after Kimmel's monologue, Carr threatened, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
"Broadcasters got the hint and announced they would be dropping Kimmel’s show from their stations," the Review board writes. "Defenders of the (Trump) Administration have since claimed that the broadcasters did so entirely on their own with no pressure from the government. But if you don't want to be accused of practicing bullying government, it would help for government officials to not talk like bullies. The FCC shouldn't have this power because it shouldn't exist."
Read The National Review's full editorial at this link.