FCC Chair Brendan Carr Must Resign, 40+ Groups Say
Brendan Carr, Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
45 L Street NE
Washington, DC 20554
Dear Brendan Carr,
When you became a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner, you took an oath of office and pledged to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
You have violated that oath of office in your comments regarding Jimmy Kimmel Live! and on several prior occasions. You should apologize immediately for those violations and affirm that FCC regulatory decisions are not contingent on the views expressed by broadcasters or by people appearing on their networks or TV stations. Then, in light of the seriousness of your undermining of First Amendment values, you should resign your office.
On September 17, on a podcast, you threatened ABC and its affiliates, insisting they must “take action” in response to comments made by Jimmy Kimmel. You stated: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Immediately afterwards, major broadcasting conglomerates Nexstar and Sinclair – which together control more than 60 ABC affiliates across the United States – announced they would not air Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Soon after, ABC suspended Kimmel indefinitely. You responded gleefully to these developments, sending celebratory GIFs to reporters.
After widespread nationwide outrage, ABC ended the suspension and Kimmel returned to the airwaves on September 23.
On September 22, you reportedly disavowed any role in the action by ABC and its affiliates, stating, “Jimmy Kimmel is in the situation that he’s in because of his ratings, not because of anything that’s happened at the federal government level.”
That is not a credible claim and reads like you desperately seeking to evade accountability for your Constitution-shredding actions.
None of the companies involved have said anything about ratings concerns; and if ABC’s concerns had been ratings, it would not have returned Kimmel to the airwaves.
More to the point, Americans should not be asked to ignore the obvious reality in front of them. As the nation’s chief communications regulator, you made a barely veiled threat. Regulated corporations responded immediately to that threat. As Senator Ted Cruz said, your comments were “dangerous as hell” and “right out of Goodfellas.”
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. 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.
To mitigate the damage you have caused, we urge you to retract and apologize for your remarks and clarify that FCC regulatory decisions are not impacted by the views expressed by broadcasters or on their programs.
But those actions by themselves will not be enough. Your constitutional transgression cannot be adequately remedied simply with an apology. You should resign immediately.
Free Press
Public Citizen
Accountable.US
Center for Accessible Technology
Center for Digital Democracy
Choose Democracy
Demand Progress Education Fund
Democracy Defenders Action
Democratic Messaging Project
Faithful America
Fight for the Future
Freedom from Religion Foundation
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Get Free
Government Accountability Project
Indivisible
Indivisible Marin
Indivisible Santa Fe
Joint Action Committee
Lawyers for Good Government
MediaJustice
MoveOn
National Organization for Women
National Women’s Law Center
Oregonizers
Our Revolution
People for the American Way
People Power United
People’s Action Institute
Progressive Democrats of America
Revolving Door Project
Roots Action
Rural Urban Bridge Initiative
Secure Elections Network
Stand Up America
The Workers Circle
Venice Resistance
Vermont Public Interest Group
Voices for Progress
Walking to Fix Our Democracy
We Own It