After Jimmy Kimmel delivered a misinformed monologue about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr pressured broadcast channels to take the comedian off the air. Carr faced immediate pushback: Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania all chastised Carr for trying to use his position to steer private companies' editorial decisions—a serious breach of free speech principles.
Carr is not without his defenders, however. Nathan Leamer, tech policy writer and onetime adviser to former FCC Chair Ajit Pai, asserts that Carr's actions fall squarely within his duty to promote the "public interest" on television, as defined by the Communications Act of 1934. He also assails libertarians in particular for not caring about how the FCC works, and he suggests that such skeptics are incorrectly or selectively railing against the public interest standard in the Kimmel case.
