House Panel Rejects Bid to Subpoena FCC Chair Over Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension

The House Oversight Committee rejected a motion on Sept. 18 to subpoena Brendan Carr, head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), after he criticized Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks on the suspect in conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Kimmel’s late-night comedy show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” was suspended indefinitely on Sept. 17, following remarks he made about Tyler Robinson, suspected of assassinating Kirk in Utah on Sept. 10.

Some Democratic lawmakers said Carr’s statements on Kimmel appeared to pressure networks to remove the show host from the airwaves.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) brought the subpoena motion during a Sept. 18 hearing that was supposed to focus on crime in the District of Columbia, but repeatedly deviated into other subject areas.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called for a vote to table Khanna’s motion before it could receive a vote.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) then called for a debate on the motion, but Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said this was against parliamentary procedure.

Greene’s motion prevailed 24–21.

After the subpoena motion was set aside, Khanna said he and Comer had discussed the matter and would try to persuade Carr to appear voluntarily.

During his opening monologue on Tuesday evening, Kimmel insinuated that Kirk’s suspected assassin was a supporter of President Donald Trump.

“We hit 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 doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.

FCC Chair Carr responded to Kimmel’s monologue in an interview with conservative political commentator Benny Johnson, calling the comedian’s comments “really, really sick,” and accusing him of deliberately misleading the public about the suspect.

This might be a violation of the FCC’s requirement that its license-holders operate “in the public interest,” Carr said.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Carr then said that, as a “reasonable, minimal step,” Kimmel could apologize on-air, or perhaps be suspended.

Carr said his agency has a “strong case” to pursue action against Kimmel, ABC, and parent company Disney for spreading politically motivated misinformation.

“I think you could certainly see a path forward for [Kimmel’s] suspension over this,” he said. “The FCC could make a strong argument that this is sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people about a very core fundamental fact, a very important matter.”

ABC network affiliates announced the same day that Kimmel’s show would be taken off the air “indefinitely.”

Following Kimmel’s suspension, Carr rejected the idea that the government wanted to pre-approve or censor comedians. He said that discretion was up to local television affiliates.

“Our goal and our obligation here is to make sure that broadcasters are serving the public interests, and if there’s local TV stations that don’t think that running that programming does it, then they have very right under the law and their contracts to preempt it, and we’ll see how this plays out,” Carr said in an interview with CNBC.

Trump celebrated Kimmel’s removal on social media.

“Great News for America: The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to @ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

This series of events prompted calls by Democratic lawmakers for Carr’s resignation.

“What Brendan Carr is doing is despicable,” Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X. “He should resign immediately, Trump should fire him.”

Democratic leadership, headed by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), signed a letter on Sept. 18 accusing Carr of “bullying” ABC and calling for him to step down.