1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

In wake of the alarming actions taken last week by the FCC against the Jimmy Kimmel Live show, Congress must rein in the power given to the FCC to regulate speech by means of Commissioner Brendan Carr’s mafia-like coercion. Kimmel’s opinions were claimed to be offensive by major affiliate operators Nexstar and Sinclair, who threatened to pull Kimmel’s show from their stations. This resulted in Carr commenting on a podcast that ABC/Disney could “do this the easy way or the hard way” which is mafia speak for “do what we want or well cause you a tremendous amount of pain.” What Commissioner Carr was alluding to is that he has the power to scuttle the proposed merger between Nexstar and Tegna, in which FCC approval will be required to waive existing rules. So, he implied, if they want the merger to happen, Kimmel’s opinions must be muzzled. This resulted in Nexstar and Sinclair announcing they’d stop airing Kimmel’s show on their 66 combined ABC stations. Disney followed by suspending Kimmel’s show indefinitely. Carr has spoken in favor of free speech in the last administration, clearly when his own interests were being threatened. Now that he’s leading the FCC, he’s choosing to wield his power as a weapon against dissent. I urge Congress to fully investigate this matter, bring Commissioner Carr in for hearings, and prevent the FCC from having the lone power to enact the President’s will, under any administration. This is a clear violation of the First Amendment of our Constitution.