Furious protesters crashed a Federal Communications Commission meeting on Tuesday to demand Chairman Brendan Carr’s firing.
Trump-lackey Carr landed in hot water on Sept. 17 after threatening to revoke ABC’s license if the network didn’t punish Jimmy Kimmel for comments he made about the assassin of Charlie Kirk, saying, “We could do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Hours later, the Disney-owned network announced it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air, followed shortly by television operators Sinclair and Nexstar.
The decision to pull Kimmel drew widespread condemnation—from GOP lawmaker Ted Cruz to former Disney CEO Michael Eisner to Barack Obama—over concerns ABC was caving to government pressure.
While Kimmel was reinstated on ABC on Sept. 23, and by Sinclair and Nexstar on Friday, outrage over Carr’s public threats hasn’t dulled.
Videos circulating on social media show a group of about a dozen demonstrators storming into the open meeting in Washington, D.C., chanting, “Fire Carr the censorship czar!”
Police escorted the demonstrators out of the conference room—but not before one woman slung one last insult at Carr.
NEWS: Protestors shown at today’s FCC Open Commission Meeting. pic.twitter.com/HyKD50zXM9
— Hannah Campbell (@hannahcmpbell) September 30, 2025
“Hope you enjoy promoting a pedophile’s agenda!” she yelled before being forced out of the room.
It’s still unclear which organization was behind the surprise protest. But on Tuesday, dozens of pro-democracy groups issued an open letter calling for Carr’s resignation.
“As someone who has repeatedly inveighed against the dangers of government censorship and who has specifically defended the importance of political satire, you know exactly how chilling and unconstitutional your statements have been,” the letter reads.
“Yet since being made chairman of the FCC by Donald Trump and even before his election last year, you have repeatedly threatened newsrooms and interfered with broadcasters and other media outlets, based on meritless complaints about their journalistic practices and the content these companies produce.”
The letter urged Carr to publicly apologize and affirm that FCC regulatory decisions aren’t influenced by the viewpoints of broadcasters or their programming.
“But those actions by themselves will not be enough,” it continues. “Your constitutional transgression cannot be adequately remedied simply with an apology. You should resign immediately.”
After the protesters were removed, the FCC announced it was launching a new review of its media ownership limits, Deadline reported. The move could significantly benefit Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC stations and is eyeing a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna, which owns another 13 stations—pending approval from Trump’s FCC.
While Commissioner Anna Gomez voted in favor of the review, she didn’t let the timing slide. During the meeting, she pointed out that Nexstar’s decision to pull Kimmel aligned suspiciously with its regulatory interests.
According to Deadline, Gomez noted that while Disney reinstated Kimmel, “for several days the corporate behemoths who own large swaths of local stations across the country did not. That’s because these billion-dollar media companies have business before the FCC.”
She went on: “They will need regulatory approval of their transactions and are pushing to reduce regulatory guardrails so they can grow even bigger. That has left local stations trapped in the middle as these massive companies impose their will and their values upon local communities.”
Gomez warned the government’s meddling “could drastically alter the media ecosystem and the number of voices that are a part of it.”
Carr, for his part, has tried to downplay his involvement in Kimmel’s three-day hiatus, claiming it was somehow the Democrats’ fault.
Vice President JD Vance tried a different spin on The Ingraham Angle last week, claiming Carr was merely making “a joke.”
That didn’t go over well with Kimmel.
On Monday night, the late-night host fired back: “A new fairy tale even a 5-year-old wouldn’t believe.” Then, twisting the knife, he added: “In three and a half years, I’m not the one who’s gonna be doing mascara tutorials on YouTube.”
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