Rand Paul, a Kentucky senator, also said Disney and ABC have no obligation to employ the late-night host
Republican US senator Rand Paul broke with Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr for seemingly putting his finger on the scale in the ongoing dispute between suspended talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel and his employer, Disney-owned ABC.
Paul, Kentucky’s junior senator, spoke Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press about the Donald Trump-appointed communications regulator who recently threatened to pull ABC affiliate broadcast licenses if Disney did not take action against Kimmel over his comments suggesting that Republicans were trying to characterize the alleged killer of far-right commentator Charlie Kirk as “anything other” than part of the president’s “Maga gang”.
Citing investigators’ interviews with those close to him, Utah prosecutors have alleged the suspect, Tyler Robinson, personally became sick of what he perceived to be Kirk’s “hatred” after “becoming more pro-gay and trans rights oriented” over the previous year.
But Carr had ominously told rightwing podcaster Benny Johnson: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way” – and said he hoped ABC and its local affiliates were listening.
