The Trump-appointed head of the FCC lavished praise on the MAGA-friendly regime now running CBS while claiming he actually helped Jimmy Kimmel keep his job at ABC.
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr was speaking at Semafor’s Restoring Trust in Media event on Wednesday when he endorsed CBS under the new leadership of conservative billionaire CEO David Ellison and CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.
“I think they’re doing a great job,” Carr said before complimenting the network on “trying to do something different” by experimenting with new formats.
Carr also took aim at criticism of changes at the network, whose owner Paramount paid $16 million to Trump to settle a lawsuit last July over editing of a 60 Minutes interview that upset the president. “So much of the legacy media can’t stand that someone is trying to do something new,” Carr said.
He also insisted that “too much of the national news media is simply drastically out of touch with where the American people are.”
Since joining CBS, Weiss installed Tony Dokoupil as the Evening News anchor, and personally intervened to get a 60 Minutes expose on the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador pulled from air last December, saying it needed more input from the Trump administration.
The report belatedly aired in January and was a ratings flop.
Longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Anderson Cooper quit the flagship show this month, with a report in Status claiming he wasn’t comfortable with the network’s “rightward direction” under Weiss and Ellison.
Another Weiss pick, longevity expert Peter Attia, finally announced this week that he would leave the network after excruciating emails he sent to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made public.
During the Semafor event, Carr also weighed in on his role in the temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! last September.
During an interview with right-wing broadcaster Benny Johnson that aired on Sep. 17, Carr threatened to take away ABC’s broadcasting license over a monologue that referenced the shooting of conservative Charlie Kirk.
Later that day, ABC announced that Kimmel’s show would be pre-empted indefinitely. Trump gloated on Truth Social, saying, “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
By Sep. 22, Kimmel’s show was back, and the late-night show host has continued to be critical of Trump and his administration.
Speaking at the Semafor event, Carr said he did not regret his attack on Kimmel over the Kirk comments, which actually led to an outpouring of public support for the comedian and the concept of free speech.
“I think I’m the reason Jimmy Kimmel didn’t get fired,” Carr joked. “He didn’t send me a Christmas card at the end of all that.”
His curious Kimmel claims come as the FCC was flooded with complaints over the suspension of the late-night show.
TMZ reported that the complaints accused the government of censorship and argued they were violating the First Amendment by suspending Kimmel for comments that upset conservatives.
The publication, which used a Freedom of Information Act request to source the complaints, said that one dated Sept. 19, 2025, asked, “Why Is Your Boss Such A Thin-skinned Loser Who Hates Free Speech?”—referring either to Carr or Trump.
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