"After Kimmel bemoaned that "the MAGA gang" sought to exploit Charlie Kirk's murder, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr urged local affiliates to drop his late-night show. He also suggested that the FCC might penalize ABC and its affiliates if they did not cancel Kimmel, warning that the agency would undertake "additional work" to bring any necessary "remedies." The message was clear: ABC and its affiliates could either "change conduct" or face the wrath of the FCC, including the revocation of broadcast licenses."
"The FCC's retaliation against Kimmel's criticism is a textbook violation of the First Amendment, as the agency's lone Democratic commissioner has pointed out. Carr and other Republicans claimed the host falsely stated that Kirk's alleged assassin was himself MAGA. But that doesn't matter: The First Amendment generally prohibits the government from censoring even false or misleading speech, with no carve-out for opinionated comedians."
ABC indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr urged local affiliates to drop the show and warned the FCC might penalize ABC and affiliates, including potential revocation of broadcast licenses. Local affiliates removed the show and ABC suspended Kimmel; President Donald Trump praised the action. The FCC's intervention has been characterized as government-coerced censorship and a likely violation of the First Amendment. Carr and other Republicans said Kimmel falsely implied that the alleged assassin was MAGA, but First Amendment protections generally extend even to false or misleading speech. Many conservatives defended the FCC action and cited prior calls to curb misinformation on social media as precedent.
Read at Slate Magazine
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