Democrats on the Senate Commerce Committee grilled Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr in a hearing on Wednesday, accusing him of “weaponizing” his position to chill free speech.
Some of the questioning focused on Carr’s threat in the wake of comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s comments in September after the fatal shooting of far-right commentator Charlie Kirk. In a podcast interview at the time, Carr referred to the FCC’s role in granting broadcast licenses and suggested that ABC should hand down repercussions for a remark of Kimmel’s.
“When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
ABC subsequently suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” before bringing it back several days later following intense backlash.
In his testimony on Wednesday, Carr repeatedly returned to the FCC’s role in “enforcing the public interest standard” and said companies have a responsibility to adhere to it.
“My job is to enforce the law as passed by Congress that includes a public interest standard, and broadcast TV is fundamentally different than other medias,” Carr said.
A co-author of Project 2025, Carr was picked by President Donald Trump to serve as chair of the FCC. Since Carr’s appointment, the commission has singled out media outlets over their diversity initiatives and for coverage of the 2024 presidential election that Trump has taken issue with.
Carr engaged in an extended back-and-forth with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who said the chairman was “weaponizing the public interest standard.”
“You’re refusing to take accountability for your own work. You intimidate the companies, they do what you want, and then you say, ‘Well, it was up to them,’” Markey said. “You’re the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Actually, you’re now the chairman of the federal censorship commission. And these broadcasters, they feel that censorship. You have broad authority over the media industry, especially broadcasters. Your words and actions matter.”
Carr was also asked about Trump’s social media post about director Rob Reiner’s alleged murder. Reading Trump’s words aloud, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked Carr if he believed the post was “appropriate,” given his ostensible focus on enforcing the public interest standard.
“Senator, look, the Democrats on this dais are accusing me of engaging in censorship, and now you’re trying to encourage me to police speech on the internet,” he responded. “I’m simply not going to do it.” Another notable exchange took place with Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., who pressed Carr on whether the FCC, which is an independent agency, is indeed independent under his leadership. Carr said there was “a test for this in the law,” before Luján interjected. “Just so you know, Brendan, on your website, it just simply says, man, ‘The FCC is independent.’ This isn’t a trick question,” Luján said, later asking, “Is your website lying?” “The FCC,” Carr responded, “is not formally an independent agency.” Since the exchange, the FCC website no longer includes the term “independent” in its description of the agency. The agency’s “About the FCC” page now identifies it as a “U.S. government agency overseen by Congress.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. Recommended
