Ted Cruz roasts Democrats while grilling FCC Chair Brendan Carr

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, managed to anger late-night comics, Democrats and the Biden administration when he berated the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr he said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday.

Cruz, who scheduled the hearing last month, criticized Carr’s pressure on broadcasters to take ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel off the air. In the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Kimmel accused conservatives of reaching “new lows” by trying to attribute a leftist ideology to 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson, even though prosecutors reaffirmed those ties in the indictment.

Appearing on “The Benny Show” the next day, Carr called Kimmel’s comments “some of the most disgusting behavior” and suggested there were potential “pathways” the FCC could take. ABC parent Disney later briefly suspended Kimmel, but Cruz thinks he shouldn’t force the FCC’s hand.

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“Jimmy Kimmel is angry, openly partisan, and profoundly unfunny. Unfortunately, this is true of many of today’s late-night comedians who seem collectively broken by the election of President Trump. Jimmy’s remarks about Charlie Kirk were tasteless, and ABC and its affiliates had every right to fire him or no longer air his show,” Cruz said.

Cruz continued: “It was their choice. But what the government cannot do is force private entities to take actions that the government cannot directly take. Government officials threatening negative consequences for disliked content is an unconstitutional coercion that restricts free speech.” “This is why the Biden administration is so insidiously using social media to shut down conservatives online over the right line of information about COVID or voter fraud.”

FCC CHAIRMAN STATES THREAT LEVELS TO ABC AND DISNEY AFTER KIMMEL SUGGESTED CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN WAS ‘MAGA’

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr was peppered with questions during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Cruz later said his Democratic colleagues had remained “quiet” during the Biden administration.

“I welcome them now that they have discovered the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights. Democrats or Republicans, we cannot allow the government to arbitrate between fact or opinion,” Cruz said.

Carr agreed with Cruz about the examples that have occurred under Biden, but said broadcast networks must be consistent with precedents set by the Communications Act and First Amendment concerns while ensuring they operate in the public interest.

Kimmel Blasts FCC’s Brendan Carr in Response to ABC’s Late Night Show

Open Cruz’s podcasthe had previously described Carr’s comment as “dangerous as hell”.

“I think it’s incredibly dangerous for the government to put itself in a position where we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t like and threaten to take you off the air if we don’t like what you say,” Cruz said on his podcast.

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