California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced Thursday he is launching an investigation into ABC’s suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following the host’s remarks regarding the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
His probe will review the Trump administration, ABC and TV station owner Sinclair amid what Garcia says are ongoing efforts to “censor opposition.”
“Every American has a duty to stand up for our First Amendment values. We will not be silent as our freedoms are threatened by corrupt schemes and threats. Anyone who is complicit will need to answer to us,” the lawmaker said in a statement.
ABC announced Wednesday that it was suspending Kimmel “indefinitely” after he said on air that Republicans were trying to score “political points” off Kirk’s death and joked that President Trump was mourning the Turning Point USA co-founder’s death “like a 4-year-old mourns the death of a goldfish.”
Kimmel, a longtime critic of Trump’s, had taken fire from multiple conservatives over the remarks, including Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr.
The White House rapid response team cheered Kimmel’s suspension, saying in a social media post that ABC was “doing their viewers a favor. Jimmy is a sick freak!”
Trump also lauded the decision, calling it “Great News for America” while adding Kimmel had “ZERO talent” and suggested his ratings have been struggling in recent months.
Former President Obama was among those who condemned the move.
“After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” Obama wrote in a statement on the social platform X.
House Democrats said the decision impedes on free speech and urged Carr to resign, accusing him of censorious overreach.
“Brendan Carr, the so-called Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has engaged in the corrupt abuse of power,” top House Democrats said in a joint statement released by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) on the social platform X. “He has disgraced the office he holds by bullying ABC, the employer of Jimmy Kimmel, and forcing the company to bend the knee to the Trump administration.”
“FCC Chair Brendan Carr should resign immediately. Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s war on the First Amendment is blatantly inconsistent with American values,” they added.
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