Trump FCC chair to reportedly testify to Senate panel after Kimmel suspension | US politics

Brendan Carr, the pro-Trump chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has agreed to testify before the Senate commerce committee following Disney’s decision to take talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel off air temporarily, according to multiple reports.

Carr agreed to testify after speaking to committee chair Ted Cruz, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter on Wednesday, adding the date of the hearing has not been set but was expected after November. Semafor was the first to report on the hearing.

Carr, Disney, the White House and an FCC spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On 17 September, ABC announced it would “indefinitely” suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s show, hours after Carr had appeared on a conservative podcast and appeared to pressure network affiliates to stop airing the show over comments by Kimmel on the death of the far-right pundit Charlie Kirk.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr had said, explaining that he wanted broadcasters to “take action” on Kimmel.

Nexstar and Sinclair, two major carriers of ABC programming, quickly announced plans to pull Kimmel’s show, seemingly forcing ABC’s hand.

Ultimately, ABC decided to bring Kimmel back the following week, and Nexstar and Sinclair followed suit. The network’s decision reportedly followed a wave of cancellations of streaming service Disney+.

The show returned on 23 September and hit a 10-year ratings high among adult viewers.

Carr’s comments drew criticism from across the aisle. Cruz said some of Carr’s remarks were “dangerous as hell” and compared him to a “mafioso”.

During a news conference last week, Carr was asked whether he regrets the phrasing he used when talking about Kimmel, Carr claimed “the full words that I said, the full context of the interview”, were very clear.