The FCC’s moves toward yanking Disney’s ABC broadcasting licenses are dividing conservatives. The agency’s review, scooped Tuesday by Semafor, is loosely tied to Disney’s corporate diversity efforts. But the timing — coming after Trump called, again, for Jimmy Kimmel to be fired over a monologue — is sparking accusations of nanny-state censorship from some Republicans, suggesting FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has misjudged the appetite inside his own party for a crackdown on speech.
“I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Punchbowl. “I would hope that if my friend Brendan Carr is looking at something on ABC, it has more to do than with a few tasteless jokes,” Kentucky Rep. James Comer, a Trump ally, told NewsNation. “The government should stay completely out of this controversy,” conservative commentator Glenn Beck said on his show.