Top Republican senator slams ‘mafioso’ tactics against ABC over Jimmy Kimmel

Federal Communications Commission head Brendan Carr’s threats against the network are “dangerous as hell,” Ted Cruz has said

Prominent Republican Senator Ted Cruz has broken ranks with his colleagues and slammed “mafioso” style threats made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against US broadcasters regarding the ABC program Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The television channel indefinitely suspended Kimmel’s late-night show on Wednesday after what it called his “offensive and insensitive” statements regarding the recent assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

Hours before the decision, FCC chair Brendan Carr said on ‘The Benny Show’ that broadcasters needed to “take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” adding, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

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According to Cruz, Carr’s tone was “right out of” Martin Scorsese’s film Goodfellas.

“That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It would be a shame if something happened to it’,” he said on his ‘Verdict with Ted Cruz’ podcast on Friday.

“What he said there is dangerous as hell,” he said, arguing that Carr’s threats could lead to a “slippery slope” of government overreach that would eventually come back to haunt Republicans as soon as a Democrat wins the White House.

However, US President Donald Trump has been more supportive of Carr’s statements.

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Trump proposes revoking licenses of critical American TV networks

Certain US networks could have their licenses taken away, he told reporters on Friday, but noted that the final say was with the FCC. Carr has been “doing a great job” leading the organization, Trump said.

The US president has long feuded with major US media outlets such as CNN, NBC, CBS, and others, accusing them of “fake news” and calling for their licenses to be revoked over what he called political bias.

CBS parent company Paramount agreed in July to pay Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the company’s editing of Democrat candidate Kamala Harris’ ‘60 Minutes’ interview during the 2024 elections.