What did Brendan Carr say about political satire? Keith Olbermann recalls Trump’s FCC chair’s past remarks amid Jimmy Kimmel suspension

American sports and political commentator Keith Olbermann has condemned FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for stepping away from his past remarks about political satire and free speech. He also criticized Carr for calling for the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel.

“Burn in hell @BrendanCarrFCC,” Olbermann captioned his September 17 post on X.

He also shared a screenshot of Carr’s 2022 tweet. In that post, the FCC's leader expressed agreement with then-POTUS Joe Biden and voiced support for free speech through political satire.

“President Biden is right. Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion,” Brendan Carr wrote back then.

He added, “That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.”

Keith Olbermann’s dig at Brendan Carr comes amid the latter’s call for the immediate suspension of Jimmy Kimmel from ABC. Carr argued this was necessary to save the network from losing its broadcast license during his appearance on conservative commentator and YouTuber Benny Johnson’s show.

Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks that sparked the controversy

On September 15, a segment aired in which Jimmy Kimmel spoke about MAGA supporters on his ABC late-night program. The show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, is eponymously named after the comedian.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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,” the comedian stated.

Additionally, Kimmel denounced the way in which Trump was “grieving” his “friend” Charlie Kirk’s death by redecorating the White House rather than releasing the Epstein list. He framed the former president’s actions as a distraction from accountability and suggested that political leaders were avoiding transparency.

The monologue quickly spread across social media, with clips being shared widely by both supporters and critics. While some viewers praised Kimmel for using his platform to challenge political figures, others accused him of crossing a line by invoking Kirk’s death during a comedy segment. The broadcast ultimately drew strong reactions from audiences on both ends of the political spectrum.

Exploring Brendan Carr’s past and present remarks amid the Keith Olbermann backlash

Brendan Carr is a lawyer who served as the commissioner of the FCC between 2017 and 2024. This year, after Donald Trump took office for his second term, he was promoted to the position of chairman of the agency.

During the Biden administration, Brendan Carr advocated for free speech and political satire on social media. In one post from 2022, he wrote on X:

"Should the government censor speech it doesn’t like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of ‘public interest.’”

His past remarks have now resurfaced after he called for Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension earlier this week on The Tonight Show with Benny Johnson. In an eight-minute conversation that the YouTuber posted online,

Brendan Carr described Kimmel’s conduct as the “sickest.” He also called his words on Charlie Kirk’s shooter “truly sick.”

The FCC leader said that Jimmy Kimmel’s political satire gave his agency a “strong case” to hold against the comedian and ABC. He added that this also extended to its parent companies, including Walt Disney and Nexstar Media Group.

"This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead. They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with an obligation to operate in the public interest," Brendan Carr stated.

He continued by telling Benny that amid “calls for Kimmel to be fired,” ABC should certainly consider a “path forward for suspension.” Brendan Carr claimed that Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks were:

“sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people about a very core fundamental fact, a very important matter.”

“Disney needs to see some change here, but the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say this, you know, garbage to the extent that that's what comes down the pipe in the future isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities. But, but this sort of status quo is obviously not, not acceptable where we are,” Carr added.

In the wake of Brendan Carr issuing FCC threats against Kimmel and his employers, Keith Olbermann and others have accused him of hypocrisy and bias. They also argued that his actions have sparked free speech debates. Olbermann condemned Carr after his comments on Benny’s show went viral.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's @BrendanCarrFCC doing EXACTLY what Goebbels did in Germany in the first year of Hitler's dictatorship. There is no hyperbole required," he wrote on X.

Keith Olbermann further blamed Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting on the Trump administration and its gun laws. He berated ABC and Disney for seemingly favoring Trump’s ideologies.

Keith Olbermann

@KeithOlbermann

Ladies and Gentlemen it's @BrendanCarrFCC doing EXACTLY what Goebbels did in Germany in the first year of Hitler's dictatorship. There is no hyperbole required.

Meanwhile, ABC took Jimmy Kimmel Live! off-air two days after his viral remarks, calling them “offensive and sensitive.” Its parent company, Nexstar Media Group, has decided to “replace” the show with “other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.” The company added that it “strongly objects” to Jimmy’s comments, as per Daily Mail reports.

Nexstar President Andre Alford stated, “We do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located. Continuing to give Mr Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time.”

He added, “We have made the difficult decision to pre-empt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”

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Jimmy Kimmel hasn’t addressed his suspension as of writing. However, on September 10, after Charlie Kirk’s assassination in Utah, he took to X and sent “love” to the Kirk family and other victims of gun violence. He called the incident “horrible and monstrous” and urged people to stop pointing fingers angrily.

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