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Suspended late night show host Jimmy Kimmel has the most unusual ally.
Republican Senator and avid poker player, Ted Cruz, on Friday blasted Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr for threats he made against Kimmel's Jimmy Kimmel Live. ABC pulled Kimmel's show after he criticized Republicans and the MAGA movement in his monologue Monday night. Cruz was even trending Friday evening following the scathing remarks.
“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying,” the Texas Senator said on his podcast, "Verdict with Ted Cruz."
“I like Brendan Carr. He’s a good guy, he’s the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him, but what he said there is dangerous as hell,” Cruz said.
Cruz is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC. He warned Carr's actions could have long-term consequences.
“It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, yeah, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it,” Cruz said.
Self-confessed Cruz detractors found themselves aligning with the Texas Senator.
"Don’t make me agree with Ted Cruz…. ," co-director of Netflix Castlevania Adam Deats tweeted.
"Today I've been forced to agree with Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz," Conspiratorial Template offered.
Carlson on Thursday accused US President Donald Trump's administration of using Charlie Kirk’s killing to trample the First Amendment.
ABC, which has aired “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” since 2003, reportedly came under pressure to pull the show off the air after two of its affiliates - Nexstar and Sinclair - said they would stop airing Kimmel’s show on their ABC-affiliated stations.
Nexstar announced a definitive agreement in August 2025 to acquire the rival media company TEGNA for $6.2 billion, a deal that would significantly increase its number of television stations and expand its reach to cover much of the United States television media market. Nextstar must receive approval from the FCC.
Sinclair stations are known for featuring news content and programming that promote conservative political positions.
Most of Nexstar's 28 ABC affiliates outside of Nashville (26th in size) and Salt Lake City (28th) serve relatively small media markets.
Sinclair has 38 ABC affiliates with full control over 30 of those. And some of these are in much larger markets such as Washington, DC, Seattle, St. Louis and Portland, Oregon.
ABC has already taken a significant hit in the country's 16th largest media market, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, after severing ties with its long time affiliate WPLG. On March 20, 2025, WPLG announced that it will drop its ABC affiliation effective August 4, 2025 after a 70-year relationship. Since the switch, WPLG, now operating independently, has celebrated ratings wins with its local programming, outperforming ABC's offerings in many time slots since the change. WPLG is owned by Berkshire Hathaway’s BH Media division.
Kimmel, whose contract with The Walt Disney Co.-owned network expires in May 2026, had yet to comment on the suspension as of Friday evening.
One of the world's largest online gambling websites, BetOnline, began taking bets on Kimmel's potential comeback just hours after the news of the suspension first broke.
They originally favored Kimmel not coming back before year's end but ABC and parent company Disney continues to come under intensive pressure, with Cruz piling on.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
