Sen. Rand Paul became the latest GOP name to push back against a top federal regulator’s remarks over comedian Jimmy Kimmel and the media.
“Absolutely inappropriate,” Paul replied. “Brendan Carr has got no business weighing in on this. But people have to also realize that despicable comments, you have the right to say them. But you don’t have the right to employment.”
During his late-night show, Kimmel criticized what he called the “MAGA gang” for “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
On Sunday, Paul noted that most employers have a code of conduct that could trigger dismissal when employees violate it. But that’s a business decision that shouldn’t involve the FCC, he said.
“I mean, this is television, for goodness’ sakes. You have to sell sponsorships. You have to sell commercials. And if you’re losing money, you can be fired,” Paul added. “But the government’s got no business in it. And the FCC was wrong to weigh in. And I’ll fight any attempt by the government to get involved with speech, I will fight.”
“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying, ‘We’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying,’” Cruz added. “And it might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.”
President Donald Trump, who has said the FCC could reexamine licenses for broadcasters that repeatedly criticize him, called Carr an American patriot in response to Cruz’s comments, adding he disagreed with the senator.
But Cruz and Paul aren’t the only conservatives raising alarms about free speech. Political commentator Tucker Carlson also said he hopes Kirk’s murder “won’t be leveraged to bring hate speech laws to this country.”
To be sure, other Republicans have voiced support for the FCC or downplayed the importance of the First Amendment. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told NBC on Friday that the FCC is right to question broadcast networks regarding their licenses.
“Under normal times, in normal circumstances, I tend to think that the First Amendment should always be sort of the ultimate right. And that there should be almost no checks and balances on it,” she said. “I don’t feel that way anymore. I feel like something’s changed culturally. And I think that there needs to be some cognizance that things have changed.”
