Sen. Schumer demands FCC Chair Carr resign for pressuring Disney-owned ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show

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‘I can’t think of a greater threat to free speech’: Chuck Schumer demands Carr’s FCC resignation
Sen. Schumer is the latest Democrat to speak out after Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was suspended over comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing.

“Carr should resign,” Schumer told POLITICO on Thursday. “I can’t think of a greater threat to free speech than Carr in many, many years. He’s despicable. He’s anti-American. He ought to resign, and Trump ought to fire him.”


TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer Joined OutFront With Erin Burnett To Discuss Republicans Refusing To Engage In Government Shutdown Negotiations And Free Speech Concerns

Burnett: Brendan Carr went on that right-wing podcast and said that Jimmy Kimmel is a problem and that they could do this the easy way or the hard way. And then within hours, Jimmy Kimmel put on indefinite leave by ABC. Out front now, the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Senator Schumer, your reaction to this?

Leader Schumer: It is outrageous. It's a page right out of Xi's playbook. This is just despicable, disgusting, and against democratic values. Trump and his allies seem to want to shut down speech that they don't like to hear. That is not what democracies do. That is what autocracies do. And it doesn't matter whether you agree with Kimmel or not, he has the right to free speech. And so, it is just outrageous, it is indicative of autocracy, and I am just outraged by it. Again, this is what dictators do. This is what Xi would do. This is what Putin would do. We are not that country.

Burnett: Well, I want to read to you, Senator, what President Trump's son, Don Jr., just posted. He just posted and I’ll quote, I'll read it to you, “They're not losing their jobs to cancel culture. They're losing them to consequence culture. Consequences and accountability are something Democrats haven't had to face in a long time.” What's your response to that, that this is just a consequence?

Schumer: He has no understanding of what free speech is all about. It's not whether you agree or disagree with what the person said. They have a right to say it. They have a right to say it on ABC. They have a right to say it in newspapers. They have a right to say it to their friends and families. And this puts this country in a road that could go to autocracy if this keeps going. What democracies have been known for, what our founding fathers and our country has been proudest of, is we are a bastion of free speech. And they're trying to shut it down simply because they don't like what the person said. That is outrageous.

Burnett: It also, and again, as I've been clear throughout the program to say, you know, what he said should not necessarily be the point. But what he said was to speculate about what side of the political spectrum the shooter came from, right? It was not something to celebrate the killing in any way, actually. When the horrible assassination happened, he came out and spoke about it.

So, Senator, what can you do about it? I know you probably just plugged in, but I was talking to Anna Gomez, who's also a current commissioner at the FCC, Brendan Carr, of course, is the Chairman, and was asking her what could be done even within the FCC itself. And she said, well, that, you know, that she would come out and she would speak out for freedom of speech, for the First Amendment, that that's what she would do, right? So, it just raises the question to me about what really can be done. Is there anything explicit and specific that can be done, Senator?

Schumer: The bottom line is this, that first, when things like this happen, everybody from all sides ought to speak out against it. We ought to have conservative Republicans speak out against it. But second, the courts have always defended free speech. Let's see if they step up to the plate, because I'm sure there'll be lawsuits about this and there ought to be right away.

https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/transcript-leader-schumer-joins-outfront-with-erin-burnett-to-discuss-republicans-refusing-to-engage-in-government-shutdown-negotiations-and-free-speech-concerns