FCC Chairman Warns ABC Over Jimmy Kimmel Comment About Charlie Kirk Assassination Suspect

The chairman of the FCC is warning of potential action over a comment that Jimmy Kimmel made on his monologue about the suspect in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

It’s the latest example of Brendan Carr‘s attacks on the content traditional broadcast networks, even though the agency has expressly said that its authority over programming is limited.

Kimmel said on his show on Monday, “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”

On Tuesday, authorities charged Tyler Robinson, 22, in Kirk’s killing, along with a series of other charges. Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said that Robinson’s mother said that her son “had become more political and had started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and trans rights oriented.” Gray said that when Robinson’s father asked his son why he did it, Robinson said, “explained that there was too much evil, and the guy, referring to Charlie Kirk, spreads too much hate.”

In the days after Robinson was taken into custody, there has been rampant speculation on social media about the suspect’s motives, with one baseless theory that he was a member of the alt-right. The suspect was raised in a conservative family, and Gray told reporters that was a source of tension with his father.

 On Benny Johnson’s podcast, Carr called Kimmel’s comment “some of the sickest conduct possible.”

“There are avenues here for the FCC, so there are some ways in which I need to be a little careful, because I could be called wholly to become a judge on some of these claims that come up.”

He added, “Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, we can do this the easy way, or 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 and The Walt Disney Co. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Even before Trump appointed him chairman, Carr

More to come.