House Democratic leadership is calling for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to resign for, in their words, bullying ABC into suspending Jimmy Kimmel. They said the Trump administration is waging a war on the First Amendment, and it’s causing quite the debate on Capitol Hill about free speech and censorship.
“House Democrats will make sure the American people learn the truth, even if that requires the relentless unleashing of congressional subpoena power. This will not be forgotten,” they said in a statement.
Download the Straight Arrow app today to get the stories that matter free from manipulation, bias or agenda.™
Point phone camera here
Because Democrats are in the minority, they cannot issue subpoenas. But they would have that power if they win the House majority in 2026.
The Democrats, led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also criticized ABC.
“Media companies such as the one that suspended Mr. Kimmel have a lot to explain. The censoring of artists and cancellation of shows is an act of cowardice,” the lawmakers stated. “It may also be part of a corrupt pay-to-play-scheme.”
ABC and parent company Disney suspended comedian Jimmy Kimmel from his late-night talk show indefinitely for his comment about how conservatives are responding to Charlie Kirk’s death.
These are the comments from Monday night that led ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live this afernoon. pic.twitter.com/TzOU3GZ195
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) September 17, 2025
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr responded by stating he could take steps to revoke ABC’s broadcast license.
“Broadcast TV stations have always been required by their licenses to operate in the public interest,” Carr posted on X.
Straight Arrow News spoke with senators about Kimmel’s suspension. Democrats called it improper government censorship, while Republicans said ABC made its own decision to punish an unacceptable comment.
Here are lawmakers’ responses:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
“We know there was federal interference. When the head of the FCC is talking openly about taking away the broadcast license, then that is the government trying to exercise censorship. It’s not a question of whether you agree with Mr. Kimmel or disagree.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.
“I have no problem with it, quite honestly. I mean, one of the things that makes a liberal a liberal is when they think they’re smarter than everybody else. They say any dang thing they want, because they’re so brilliant and everyone ought to listen. And by the way, if you’re not one of those people, you’re the liberal that wants somebody to tell them what to do. And you know, I think some of these people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are getting what the market wants, and he’s getting what he deserves. I don’t know about FCC, but am I concerned about it? No.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
“I think that the censorship is spreading like cancer in this country and we need to speak out now, or we sacrifice free expression and the First Amendment. Taking Kimmel off the air was not only premature and precipitous, it was a violation of basic standards of free expression.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.
“ABC made the decision that his comments were inappropriate. Charlie Kirk was a friend. I was on his show every week. A father, husband, he really energized a lot of young people. I don’t get the inappropriate comments about anybody’s death.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
“(I’m) really, really worried about it. I’m just amazed that big, powerful entities, like whatever the TV station was that he was on, they just caved so fast. I feel like the wealthy businesses and leadership classes showing a complete lack of backbone.”
Warren
“There’s no doubt that for business reasons, someone can say, ‘I don’t want to give you a platform anymore.’ But that’s not what happened here. We saw the government step up and give a hard shove, and then we saw a compliant company turn around and suspend Mr. Kimmel, and that truly undermines the whole premise of the First Amendment.”
Cramer
“If that’s what scares off ABC, maybe they need a little bit of a scare when it comes to the merger itself. I don’t know a lot about it. I do know that the concentration of liberal communications companies isn’t great for America. But again, it’s a nice liberal thing to do, consolidate power.”
Blumenthal
“Satire, humor, comedy are the stuff of political expression, not just entertainment. And this kind of heavy-handed censorship is going to be a whirlwind that will come back to haunt the chairman of the FCC and others.”
