The conservative senator from Texas, one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, said FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s threat to fine broadcasters or pull their licenses over the content of their shows was dangerous.
US senator Ted Cruz says what has happened to comedian Jimmy Kimmel could be turned around on conservatives. (Picture: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
The senator’s remarks are a rare example of a prominent member of President Donald Trump’s own party publicly criticising the actions of the administration, highlighting deepening concerns over free speech rights and Trump’s threatened crackdowns.
On Thursday, Trump had repeated an oft-stated contention that broadcasters critical of his administration perhaps should have their FCC-issued licenses revoked.
“See, I think that’s really illegal, personally,” Trump said of extensive criticism. “That’s no longer free speech… That’s just cheating, and they cheat.”
The owners of dozens of local TV stations affiliated with ABC said they would no longer carry the show. Trump, who appointed Carr, has cheered the decision.
Conservative activists were angered by Kimmel’s comments that they were using the assassination to score “political points” and his suggestion that the killer may also have been a conservative. Kimmel also joked about how Trump responded to the killing.
Cruz, chair of the Senate’s commerce oversight committee, joined the criticism, saying Carr’s comments were “dangerous as hell.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat who infrequently agrees with Cruz, has called on Carr to resign or for Trump to fire him.
Trump, a former successful TV host himself, spoke several times during a state visit to Britain this week to commend Kimmel’s suspension, calling the Los Angeles comedian untalented and denouncing him for saying “a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.”
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend,” Kimmel said. “This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Cruz said on his podcast that he had been mocked by Kimmel on air “so many times I cannot count” and that he hated Kimmel’s comments about Kirk.
“We shouldn’t be threatening government power to force him off air,” Cruz said. “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.”
With Reuters
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