Bad move by Brendan Carr

I like Carr but this was a huge blunder

Let’s put it plainly: Jimmy Kimmel sucks. He used to be a little funny but after Donald Trump was elected, Kimmel’s brain was so addled by TDS and his decision to turn that ailment into his late-night brand — and to be clear, it did work for a while, as it did for Steven Colbert, now also about to lose his job — that he became worthy both of disliking and ignoring.

When he made comments about the man who assassinated Charlie Kirk necessarily being MAGA or, to be more specific, that Republicans were denying that the killer was a conservative “to score political points”, it was already quite clear that that wasn’t true.

In reaction, Nexstar (which needs government approval for their proposed takeover of Tegna) announced that the ABC affiliate TV stations that they own would not air Kimmel’s show.

Kimmel, whose ratings have already been struggling and who was at risk of not having his contract renewed beyond its current expiration in May of next year, might perhaps have been suspended by ABC just because of that.

But we’ll never really know because then the chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr — whose been a guest on my show several times before he became chairman — threatened ABC with a mafia-like line: “we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way.”

ABC then suspended Kimmel indefinitely, which probably means he won’t ever be back on their airwaves, at least not with his own show.

Over at the NY Post, Charlie Gasparino makes the (credible) case that companies that need FCC permission for mergers are quickly bending the knee to Brendan Carr: Here's the real reason ABC suspended 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'

I was pretty shocked when I heard Carr’s words and the more I think about it the more upset I am about it.

For Carr to make some bogus excuse about ABC’s bias from a comedian violating FCC’s mandate to ensure that over-the-air broadcasters operate “in the public interest” is every bit as wrong and unacceptable as Pam Bondi’s statement that the DOJ would persecute (and perhaps prosecute) people for “hate speech”, which isn’t even a defined thing (because it can’t be) in federal law.

LOTS of Republicans and conservatives (and, of course, libertarians) chastised Bondi. Some folks are criticizing Carr, but too many are defending him.

Let’s start with some excellent criticism, from a moderate conservative, from a liberal, from a libertarian (I think), and from the past:

Brit Hume: “The First Amendment does not protect performers like Jimmy Kimmel from being cancelled by their private sector employers. But I would have liked the outcome a lot better if the chairman of the FCC had not involved himself in it.”

Glenn Greenwald: “This shouldn't be a complicated or difficult dichotomy to understand. Jimmy Kimmel is repulsive, but the state has no role in threatening companies to fire on-air voices it dislikes or who the state believes is spreading ‘disinformation,’ which is exactly what happened here.”

Bob Corn-Revere (of FIRE): “FCC Chair Brendan Carr nakedly abused government power to pressure ABC into removing Jimmy Kimmel from the air for his speech. In America, the government doesn’t get to play network executive and determine who and what you watch.”

And here’s Brendan Carr of 3 years ago criticizing Brendan Carr of today: "This is very concerning. The government does not evade the First Amendment’s restraints on censoring political speech by jawboning a company into suppressing it—rather, that conduct runs headlong into those constitutional restrictions, as Supreme Court law makes clear."

Unsurprisingly, Benny Johnson, the YouTuber who had the relevant interview with Carr is tooting is own horn, but in the service of tyranny which he will regret when Dems next control the FCC: "This is what got Kimmel fired. Right here. Watch. It’s called soft power. The Left uses it all the time. Thanks to President Trump, the Right has learned how to wield power as well. Brendan Carr is the most consequential FCC Chairman in American History.”

This commentary by Rep Barry Moore (R-AL) spouted an incredible amount of unintelligible nonsense trying to defend Carr and Trump. He made the best argument against himself, when asked by the host what the message of Trump (when the president half-criticized, half-threatened NBC) was, by saying that the networks should “hire good people for your shows…hire people who are funny.” Ummmm…and is that cretin from Alabama or whoever resides in the White House going to be the decider of what’s “good” or “funny”? Seriously, just insanely bad:

Rep Barry Moore (R-AL) beclowns himself while assaulting free speech

Also unsurprisingly, Nick Gillespie, one of the nation’s most prominent libertarians wants to do something different:

Nick Gillespie: Abolish the FCC

Anger makes people do things that they know are wrong, things they’d oppose if their political opposition even talked about doing. It’s incumbent on all conservatives, Republicans, and, of course, libertarians, to push back HARD on this incipient tyranny.

One more thing: I fully understand the schadenfreude here. It’s wonderful and lovely and heartwarming to see these progressives — who were so aggressively divisive and mendacious for years — get a taste of their own medicine. I’m not against that outcome. I’m against any government involvement in the decision. Can you imagine the risk to conservative media outlets if this is the new standard when a liberal next controls the FCC? I don’t even want to think about it. Setting a terrible unconstitutional precedent is a shockingly bad idea and Brendan Carr made a very significant blunder which feels to me like it was for an audience of one.

More good thoughts here by Robby Soave of Reason: Brendan Carr flagrantly abused his powers to cancel Jimmy Kimmel