Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas sharply criticized Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr for his comments related to late-night host Jimmy Kimmel shortly before ABC pulled his show off the air.
Cruz said he took issue with Carr threatening to cancel ABC’s broadcast license over Kimmel’s remarks about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“He says, ‘We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way,'” the senator said of Carr in the latest episode of his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” which aired Friday morning.
“And I gotta say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas,'” Cruz said, referring to the classic mob film.
“That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it,'” he said.
“Look, I like Brendan Carr. He’s a good guy, he’s the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him, but what he said there is dangerous as hell,” Cruz said at another point in the episode.
Cruz’s comments put him at odds with President Donald Trump, who applauded Kimmel’s suspension and later called Carr “outstanding.”
Trump, asked later Friday about Cruz’s remarks, said, “I think Brendan Carr is an incredible American patriot with courage.”
“I think Brendan Carr doesn’t like to see the airwaves be used illegally and incorrectly,” Trump said.
“So I disagree with Ted Cruz on that,” he added.
Cruz said on the podcast that he’s no fan of Kimmel’s, and that he is “thrilled that he was fired” over his comments about Kirk.
“But let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you the media have said, we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives,” Cruz said.
Kimmel, who has been suspended but not fired, said in his opening monologue Monday night that “the MAGA gang” is “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.”
On Wednesday, Carr slammed Kimmel at length during an appearance on right-wing commentator Benny Johnson’s podcast.
ABC has “a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” Carr said.
“But frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Hours later, ABC and Nexstar Media Group, which hosts ABC-affiliated local stations, pre-empted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely.
Nexstar in August announced a planned $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna — a merger that will require the FCC’s approval.
The FCC did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Cruz’s remarks.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the wording of this quote from Ted Cruz: “But let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you the media have said, we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives.” A previous version contained a transcription error.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.