On Wednesday, Carr slammed Kimmel at length during an appearance on right-wing commentator Benny Johnson’s podcast.
ABC has “a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” Carr said.
“But frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Hours later, ABC and Nexstar Media Group, which hosts ABC-affiliated local stations, pre-empted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely.
Cruz said on the podcast that he’s no fan of Kimmel’s, and that he is “thrilled that he was fired” over his comments about Kirk.
“But let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you the media have said, we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives,” Cruz said.