Trump Threatens ABC Again; Kimmel Returns and Blasts Carr

Speaking to Communications Daily after addressing a Media Institute event Wednesday (see 2509240050), FCC Chief of Staff Scott Delacourt continued to say that the suspension of Kimmel's show wasn’t due to federal action and instead was a business decision by private companies. Carr said virtually the same thing Monday (see 2509220059).

The $16 million that Trump mentioned refers to lawsuit settlement payouts that TV networks made to his presidential library. CBS parent Paramount Global committed to pay that amount in July to settle Trump’s lawsuit against the network over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. The settlement agreement was reached shortly before the FCC approved Skydance’s purchase of Paramount, and Carr repeatedly said the FCC proceedings on Paramount and Trump's private lawsuit weren’t related. Journalism advocacy groups, free speech organizations and FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez have characterized Paramount’s settling of the lawsuit, which was widely seen as having no chance in court, as an attempt to secure regulatory approval for the deal. ABC also made a payout to Trump’s presidential library in December, but it was $15 million to settle a defamation case Trump brought against the network.

Trump also suggested in his post Tuesday that Kimmel’s show violates campaign finance rules. “He is yet another arm of the [Democratic National Committee] and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution.”

The Center for American Rights has filed a complaint at the FCC against an ABC-owned station based in part on Kimmel’s political fundraising and accusations that his show features politicians to whom he has donated as guests. Kimmel also hosted a fundraiser for then-President Joe Biden. The host “consistently hijacked the public airwaves for his personal political agenda [without] ever telling the viewers that he was personally engaged in their race,” the CAR complaint said. In July, CAR also called for an FCC investigation of late-night shows for providing “slanted” news. Another CAR complaint against CBS was the basis for the still-pending news distortion proceeding against the network.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance characterized Carr’s comments on a podcast last week, where he said “that we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” as a “joke on social media.” Vance said the comments didn’t amount to government pressure. “What is the government action that the Trump administration has engaged in to kick Jimmy Kimmel or anybody else off the air? Zero. What government pressure have we brought to bear to tell people that they're not allowed to speak their mind? Zero. We believe in free speech." He also said Carr’s actions don’t compare to recent revelations that the Biden administration pressured Google to remove YouTube accounts over their content. ”That is real government censorship.”

Asked last week about whether the FCC would take aim at other late-night hosts, Carr said it could investigate whether some talk shows -- such as The View -- still qualify for the news exemption to the agency's equal opportunity rules. Those rules require that political candidates be given equal time on non-news broadcast programming. The FCC didn’t respond to a query about whether it will investigate ABC in connection with Trump’s latest charges.

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression General Counsel Robert Corn-Revere said it isn’t clear if Trump was threatening private litigation or regulatory action. “He doesn't seem to draw a line between the two.” Carr’s threatening comments about ABC and broadcasters “galvanized” the response to Kimmel’s suspension and motivated viewers to cancel Disney subscriptions to pressure ABC's parent company, Corn-Revere added. “Who knows what factors played a role in Disney deciding to restore Kimmel, but I think a lot of it has to do with Brendan Carr going too far and finally embarrassing his boss.”

Kimmel's Return

Kimmel blasted Carr and Trump during his return broadcast Tuesday, repeatedly comparing Carr to a Mafia enforcer and bringing in Goodfellas actor Robert De Niro to play an FCC chair. “If you want to hear a mob boss make a threat like that, you have to hide a microphone in a deli and park outside in a van with a tape recorder all night long. This genius said it on a podcast,” Kimmel said of Carr.

He also brought up a past post that Carr made on X in 2022 defending the Babylon Bee, a conservative humor site. “Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people in to the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.” The FCC didn't comment on Kimmel's remarks.

Kimmel’s show was still preempted on all Sinclair and Nexstar ABC affiliates Tuesday and didn’t air in Salt Lake City; Washington, D.C.; Portland, Oregon; and dozens of other markets. In a statement Wednesday, a Nexstar spokesperson said the company is “continuing to evaluate the status of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on our ABC-affiliated local television stations, and the show will be preempted while we do so.” Nexstar is “engaged in productive discussions with executives at The Walt Disney Company, with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve.” Sinclair didn’t comment Wednesday but said earlier this week that it was in talks with Disney.

Kimmel expressed remorse Tuesday over the way his comments last week about the accused killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk were received, but he didn’t offer an outright apology. Sinclair said last week that Kimmel should apologize and donate to Kirk’s Turning Point USA organization. In a post Wednesday on X, Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet called Kimmel “an unrepentant liar” and said the host's words were insufficient. “It’s critical that liars admit they lied. There can be no restoration without that.”

Several broadcast attorneys told us that they expect Sinclair and Nexstar to soon cease preempting the show, barring further pressure from Carr. Network affiliation agreements generally include penalties for repeated preemption, and ABC’s content and a continuing relationship with the network are important to Sinclair's and Nexstar’s bottom lines, the attorneys told us.

Disney is also a vastly larger company, worth more than $200 billion. Nexstar, the nation’s largest broadcaster, is worth around $6 billion. If Nexstar and Sinclair preempt Kimmel long enough, Disney may be able to argue that the broadcasters have broken their affiliation contracts and could offer those contracts to other broadcasters. However, that would likely lead to years of expensive litigation that Disney and the broadcasters would rather avoid, the attorneys said. Industry officials said they expect the companies to reach an agreement sooner rather than later, but they added that it's unclear how future FCC pressure could factor into the situation.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., urged Sinclair on Wednesday to cease preempting Kimmel on KOMO-TV Seattle and its other ABC-affiliated stations. “The First Amendment ensures the freedom of expression and a free press, and our nation’s media landscape needs to embody those ideals,” Cantwell said in a letter to Sinclair CEO Christopher Ripley. “As a trusted voice in the community, local broadcasting is a critical part of that landscape. Your decision not to reinstate [Kimmel] appears contrary to the inherently local aspects of your station licenses, given the popularity of” the show in the Seattle media market. Kimmel’s Seattle ratings are higher “than the national average,” she said. “I am concerned that your decision, made on a national level, will negatively impact how millions of viewers in the Puget Sound region access quality, local news and programming.”

Terry Haines, a market analyst and former FCC chief of staff under the George H.W. Bush administration, said in a LinkedIn post that Carr’s conduct could hurt the telecom sector, because there's now “reason to fear that the White House could bigfoot a pliant FCC on telecom policies that benefit Big Tech and negatively affect telecoms’ bottom lines and business models.” The FCC’s actions could provide a preview of how the Federal Reserve might behave if Trump succeeds in removing its independence, he added. “If markets want to know what a Fed servile to POTUS might look like, FCC today is a living example.” Haines also pointed to recent criticisms of Carr by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as an indication that he may be subject to stricter congressional oversight going forward.

In a blog post Tuesday for Brookings, former Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said media consolidation has facilitated Carr’s ability to pressure broadcasters. “When ownership of the means of expression is concentrated in just a few companies, it is easier for governments to put pressure on those companies. The Trump-Carr strategy appears to be reshaping the media landscape in this direction.” Wheeler cited a 2023 post by Carr in which the then-commissioner said that censorship was “an authoritarian’s dream.”

“At the time, many -- including myself -- read this as a defense of free speech,” Wheeler said. “In light of Carr’s recent actions, it appears more like a roadmap: Use censorship and the power of the FCC to expand authoritarian control.”

Bar Complaints Against Carr

Also Tuesday, the watchdog group Campaign for Accountability said it filed bar complaints against FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in Washington, D.C., and Maryland over his comments pressuring ABC and broadcasters to suspend and preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! Carr’s comments may violate the Rules for Professional Conduct for attorneys, the group said in a press release. “Mr. Carr’s actions undermine public trust in not only the agency he leads, but in government neutrality across the board,” Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said in the release. "We implore the DC and Maryland Bar Counsels to conduct thorough investigations into Mr. Carr’s conduct and impose any appropriate disciplinary measures.”

This is the second bar complaint filed against Carr over his actions as FCC chairman (see 2507290060). The Freedom of the Press Foundation filed one in Washington following the agency's approval of the Skydance/Paramount sale, which came days after Paramount settled a private lawsuit with President Donald Trump. The foundation filed a supplement to that complaint last week, updating the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel on Carr’s comments about ABC and Kimmel. “The Rules of Professional Conduct -- and the Oath of Admission that Carr swore in order to be admitted to the District of Columbia Bar -- contemplates that attorneys will use their position to advance the Constitution, not to impose authoritarian censorship through threats of state retribution,” said the supplemental filing. The foundation told us that there have been no updates yet from the Office of Disciplinary Counsel on the complaint, and legal ethics scholars told us it was unlikely to lead to disciplinary action.