On the Suspension of Jimmy Kimmel

Earlier this week, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel made a series of despicable statements when he knowingly lied about the political leanings of Charlie Kirk's leftist assassin by falsely indicating he was a supporter of President Donald Trump's.

When broadcasters are awarded a license to operate on the public airwaves, they agree to do so in the public interest. And Jimmy Kimmel's despicable comments in no way serve that interest. Yesterday, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr correctly pointed this out, and further indicated that ABC could be punished for failing to uphold their end of the agreement. Shortly after, ABC's affiliates independently moved to indefinitely suspend Kimmel's show.

As the FCC holds, it violates their rules to broadcast "false information concerning a crime or catastrophe...if the station licensee knew that the information was false, [and] broadcasting the false information directly causes substantial public harm." These comments - lies about a horrific political assassination - obviously violate these rules. All Commissioner Carr did was point out this obvious violation. We commend and fully support his comments.