Kimmel Blasts FCC’s Carr for Abandoning Free-Speech Principles

Jimmy Kimmel and Robert De Niro on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show.Photographer: Randy Holmes/Disney/Getty Images

One of Jimmy Kimmel’s main targets during his return to TV was Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, whom the late-night host accused of abandoning free-speech principles and being “embarrassing.”

Kimmel pointed to comments Carr had made earlier in his career defending political satire as an important form of free speech, and said the chairman’s effort to push him off the air violated the US Constitution. He also questioned Carr’s intelligence for urging stations to cancel Kimmel’s show so publicly.