WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, is once again demanding that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr testify in front of Congress. Senator Rosen is joining Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and committee Democratic colleagues in a letter to Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) to hold immediate hearings. Last week, Senator Rosen sent a letter calling on Chairman Cruz to hold immediate hearings with FCC Chairman Carr about his actions to pressure Nexstar and ABC to censor Jimmy Kimmel in violation of the First Amendment. On Tuesday, in the face of mounting pressure, Disney announced that Kimmel’s show would return to ABC.
“On Wednesday, Chairman Carr threatened to use the regulatory power of the FCC against ABC, its parent company Disney, and its network affiliates if ABC did not fire comedian Jimmy Kimmel for his comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” the Senators wrote. “As the Committee with jurisdiction over the FCC, it is our constitutional duty to conduct oversight over this matter and demand Chairman Carr answer for this unprecedented attack on the First Amendment.”
The Senators continued: “In a recent appearance on a podcast, Chairman Carr threatened to wield the power of the Commission against ABC and its network affiliates, saying: ‘we can do this the easy way or the hard way’ and ‘this is a very, very serious issue for Disney.’ Chairman Carr then specifically spoke to affiliates of ABC—which hold FCC licenses—telling them, ‘frankly…it’s past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back…It’s time for them to step up[.]’ Chairman Carr’s words had an immediate effect—within hours, Nexstar and Sinclair, the largest affiliate groups in the country, said they would preempt Kimmel’s show, and ABC indefinitely suspended the program. Chairman Carr then celebrated the decisions by Nexstar and Sinclair to preempt Kimmel’s show as ‘the right thing’ and ‘responsive.’”
The full letter to Chairman Cruz can be found HERE.
Senator Rosen’s letter to Chairman Cruz can be found HERE.
Senator Rosen has been leading the call to push back on the Trump Administration’s assault on free speech. She also sent a letter to Nexstar demanding answers about the company’s decision to suspend Kimmel’s show from the airwaves under FCC pressure and whether it has any relation to its pending merger with Tegna, which is currently under review by the FCC. She joined Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) in another letter questioning Chairman Carr’s statements about pulling broadcast licenses.
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