John Oliver Segment Argues That Carr Shows Zero Independence From Trump
Host John Oliver on Sunday warned viewers of HBO’s Last Week Tonight that President Donald Trump poses a threat to press freedom and that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has been complicit in Trump’s efforts to silence some media outlets. The White House has attempted to “weaponize” the FCC, Oliver said.
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Historically, the FCC has “at least pretended to be an independent commission, but that is now changing fast” under Carr, Oliver said. He played a Fox interview with Carr after he was designated as chairman, during which Carr said he would work with Trump’s team to make sure “I 100% understand his agenda.” The FCC didn’t comment Monday.
“OK, but that’s not what your job is supposed to be,” Oliver said during his TV program. “You never want to hear something as obsequious as that coming from someone in a role that’s supposed to be independent.” Oliver compared Carr's stance to an NBA referee wearing one of the two opposing team’s jerseys.
Oliver also noted an FCC investigation of alleged news distortion following a 60 Minutes interview last fall with former Vice President Kamala Harris, which launched after Trump accused CBS of slanting its coverage and editing the interview to help Harris’ campaign (see 2504140044 and 2502050063). Oliver also cited an FCC investigation of Audacy’s KCBS San Francisco over the station broadcasting locations and identifying details of vehicles involved in an undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in January (see 2502050051).
Oliver has been a thorn in the FCC's side in the past. In 2019, he released a segment charging that the FCC was weakening robocalling protections by tweaking Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules (see 1903110072). He also targeted the agency in 2015 and 2017 over net neutrality rules.