Jimmy Kimmel misled on Charlie Kirk killing

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said Thursday that ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel appeared to “mislead” the American public about facts regarding conservative activist Charlie Kirk‘s killing in the days leading up to his show’s suspension.

Carr also told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that “we’re not done yet” with the changes in “the media ecosystem” that are consequences of President Donald Trump‘s election last fall.

ABC on Wednesday night said it was pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air “indefinitely” because of the host’s comments, which linked Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

“The issue that arose here, where lots and lots of people were upset, was not a joke,” Carr said Thursday on CNBC.

“It was not making fun,” said Carr, who hours before Kimmel’s show was pulled off the air suggested the FCC might take action against ABC and its parent company, Disney.

“It was appearing to directly mislead the American public about a significant fact that probably one of the most significant political events we’ve had in a long time, for the most significant political assassination we’ve seen in a long time,” he said.

Utah court documents filed Tuesday in connection with the murder charge against Robinson say his mother told investigators, “Over the last year or so, her son had become more political and had started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro gay and trans-rights oriented.”

Those documents also say that when Robinson was asked why he killed Kirk, “Robinson explained there is too much evil, and [Kirk] spreads too much hate.”

A day before those documents were filed, Kimmel, in his show’s opening monologue Monday, said, “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.”

Trump on Wednesday evening praised Kimmel’s suspension and called on NBC to cancel its own late-night shows, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”

“Squawk on the Street” anchor Carl Quintanilla asked Carr about that on Thursday.

“I asked earlier about Fallon and Seth Meyers, but is the president’s view that they should also be taken off the air, shared by the FCC?” Quintanilla asked.

Carr replied, “I don’t speak for the president.”

“Our goal and our obligation here is to make sure that broadcasters are serving the public interest,” Carr said.

“And if there’s local TV stations that don’t think that running that programming does it, then they have every right under the law in their contracts to preempt it. And we’ll see how this plays out.”

“I do think that again, we are in the midst of a massive shift in dynamics in the media ecosystem for lots of reasons, again, including the permission structure that President Trump’s election has provided,” the FCC chief said.

“And I would simply say we’re not done yet with seeing the consequences of that,” he said.

CNBC anchor David Faber followed up on that.

“What does that mean when you say you’re not done yet?” Faber asked. “Then, I mean, will you only be pleased when none of these comedians have a show on broadcast television?”

Carr replied, “No, it’s not any particular show or any particular person. It’s just we’re in the midst of a very disruptive moment right now, and I just, frankly, expect that we’re going to continue to see changes in the media ecosystem.”

Asked by anchor Jim Cramer if the U.S. government should “have someone who reviews the writers before the host says something,” Carr said, “No.”

Speaking in England on Thursday, Trump said Kimmel “said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk, and Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person.”

“He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. So, you know, you can call that free speech or not,” Trump said. “He was fired for lack of talent.”

Kimmel has not been fired.

The president nominated Carr as FCC chair.

On Wednesday, before ABC yanked Kimmel’s show, Carr called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and said there was a “strong case” for action against ABC and Disney.

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told right-wing commentator Benny Johnson that day. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

“They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” Carr said.

Hours after Carr’s comments were reported by Johnson, Nexstar Media Group said its stations that are affiliated with ABC would preempt Kimmel’s show “for the foreseeable future” because of Kimmel’s remarks.

Nexstar is seeking regulatory approval from the FCC for its planned $6.2 billion merger with Tegna

About 10% of ABC affiliates are owned by Nexstar.

House Democratic leaders on Thursday called for Carr’s resignation, alleging that he had engaged “in the corrupt abuse of power.”

In a statement, the Democrats accused the FCC chairman of “bullying ABC, the employer of Jimmy Kimmel, and forcing the company to bend the knee to the Trump administration.”

Former President Barack Obama, in a post on X on Thursday, said, “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”

“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it,” Obama wrote.

Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC under a planned spinoff.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct a quote from David Faber. A previous version inadvertently omitted a word.