Good read. I didn’t know it was such a short career. I reckon it’s the same for all the old bank robbers. Before they figured out you lived longer if you didn’t kill people.
Sen. Ted Cruz on his podcast Friday admonished Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr for demanding ABC suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show over comments regarding Charlie Kirk — calling Carr’s actions “dangerous as hell” and “right out of ‘Goodfellas.’”
“If the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said; we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like’ — that will end up bad for conservatives,” said the Texas Republican.
And while Cruz said he liked Carr and was “thrilled” to see Kimmel’s show taken off the air, he cautioned that leveraging the FCC’s power to punish certain speech creates a concerning precedent that could leave conservatives vulnerable in a future Democratic administration.
“They will silence us,” said Cruz. “They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly.”
The comments are notable coming from Cruz – both as a loyalist of President Donald Trump and as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has oversight authority over the FCC.
I think it goes without saying (but just in case it doesn't) that every rational person agrees that you have a right to free speech, but you don't have a right to a job if you say something out of line. I just wish it wouldn't happen, both for someone like him and someone like Shane Gillis or Dave Chapelle. I wish people would be consistent in their beliefs about issues regardless of which party supports or opposes it, as opposed to just rooting for their side to win, by any means necessary.
If a democrat thinks Dave Chapelle should have been pulled off the air for his comments on trans people, but thinks this Jimmy Kimmel situation is "facism", then I view that person as hypocritical.
If a republican thinks Dave Chapelle should still be on TV, or that Shane Gillis shouldn't have been fired from SNL, but Jimmy Kimmel deserved it, I view that person as hypocritical.
What I think doesn't matter though, I'm just whining on the internet. It all comes down to money in the end. This cancelling didn't happen because of ideology, it happened because a local broadcasting conglomerate is trying to merge with another conglomerate. If that merger is going to get approved, the FCC needs to change their rules to allow this new mega conglomerate to own a higher percentage of total over the air broadcast stations than is currently allowed. Nexstar, the company that first pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air, isn't doing this for any moral reason, it's just money. They're buttering up to the administration.
Local news article from a month ago about the merger: