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I don’t think FCC pressure was what led to this. Nexstar, which owns stations that are affiliates of ABC, made a choice to remove the show from their stations.

I don’t think FCC pressure was what led to this. Nexstar, which owns stations that are affiliates of ABC, made a choice to remove the show from their stations. Their reasoning has nothing to do with the government or first amendment. Here is what they said: > “Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. “Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.” This decision and their public statement about it, coupled with social media pressure, led ABC to making a decision afterwards about the show.

hypeatei 1y ago
So Brendan Carr threatening their license and them cancelling the show is a coincidence? Is that what you're arguing?
- SilverElfin 1y ago
  I’m saying the sequence of events was that Nexstar’s voluntary actions, which they shared their justification for, immediately led to broader ABC action, which they pretty much had to before other groups of stations did the same and turned it into an embarrassing moment for Disney. As for Carr - he is staunchly in support of first amendment rights. Politico wrote about this yesterday since he split from the rest of the GOP on broader censorship (https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/16/fcc-brendan-carr-social-media-free-speech-00565292 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/16/fcc-brendan-carr-so...). He also can’t take unilateral action - the commissioners would have to vote. But the FCC has a lot of content rules for the mediums they regulate, which have thus far held up in courts (although I find it questionable). In that sense, what he was suggesting may be legal (unfortunately).
  - hypeatei 1y ago
    > As for Carr - he is staunchly in support of first amendment rights Right, because he said this on a conservative podcast: Hours earlier, FCC Chair Brendan Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that Kimmel’s comments were “truly sick,” and that there was a “strong case” for action against ABC and Disney. “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” "easy way or the hard way" sounds pretty staunchly against the first amendment to me and more like a fascist thug.
    - SilverElfin 1y ago
      I linked an article that you may want to read. He is against any actions taken around online speech due to the first amendment. He is okay with applying FCC’s regulatory authority because the courts - including SCOTUS - have upheld its constitutionality (prior to this administration).
      - fzeroracer 1y ago
        Right, don't listen to Brendan Carr's actions or the words he literally tells you, instead read this completely separate article about how he's totally in favor of Freedom of Speech while stomping on your rights. Do you even see the cognitive dissonance in play here or are you just completely in favor of running interference for someone taking actions against the constitution?
      - anigbrowl 1y ago
        I'm confused - are you saying he didn't make the remarks quoted above?
        SilverElfin 1y ago
        No, I am not saying that. What I am saying is that he seems to care about acting along the lines of what is constitutional. And the FCC has regulatory authority over broadcasted TV, including on the content itself to some extent. The authority of the FCC on regulating the actual content has been upheld across numerous court cases as being constitutional. The article I linked shows he is unwilling to implement censorship that is unconstitutional despite there being some calls for it on the political right.
CodingJeebus 1y ago
The implication here is that Nexstar wants a merger, which requires FCC approval. How does one get FCC approval under the current administration? Do them a favor and apply leverage to out a political opponent.
- SilverElfin 1y ago
  The merger is a good point. Assuming that the commissioners (not just Carr) were to participate in such a scheme. But this type of indirect regulatory pressure wouldn’t be new. Many tech companies implemented government directed online censorship (for example on COVID related topics) because they were worried about antitrust actions.
  - Braxton1980 1y ago
    And Republicans protested loudly about this making freedom of speech a key reason to vote for them
  - hypeatei 1y ago
    > Many tech companies implemented government directed online censorship Can you provide evidence for this? Right wing truisms are not sufficient.
    - SilverElfin 1y ago
      It is very easy to find lots of evidence with a few searches if you’re curious. Here is one: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/zuckerberg-says-the-white-house-pressured-facebook-to-censor-some-covid-19-content-during-the-pandemic https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/zuckerberg-says-the-wh... Edit: can’t reply to comment below me but that quote is referring to the instances where the company pushed back. It’s not saying they didn’t comply at all - they absolutely did on many instances, and Zuckerberg admitted guilt over it. See later quote: > “I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” he said, without elaborating. “We’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”
anigbrowl 1y ago
This comment posted earlier by Commissioner Carr seems relevant here: https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1968449919221416427 https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1968449919221416427 I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead. Amusingly, one of the replies quotes Carr in 2019 saying 'The FCC does not have a mandate to police speech in the name of the 'public interest.'' https://x.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1968485214511878199 https://x.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1968485214511878199

hypeatei 1y ago

So Brendan Carr threatening their license and them cancelling the show is a coincidence? Is that what you're arguing?

SilverElfin 1y ago
I’m saying the sequence of events was that Nexstar’s voluntary actions, which they shared their justification for, immediately led to broader ABC action, which they pretty much had to before other groups of stations did the same and turned it into an embarrassing moment for Disney. As for Carr - he is staunchly in support of first amendment rights. Politico wrote about this yesterday since he split from the rest of the GOP on broader censorship (https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/16/fcc-brendan-carr-social-media-free-speech-00565292 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/16/fcc-brendan-carr-so...). He also can’t take unilateral action - the commissioners would have to vote. But the FCC has a lot of content rules for the mediums they regulate, which have thus far held up in courts (although I find it questionable). In that sense, what he was suggesting may be legal (unfortunately).
- hypeatei 1y ago
  > As for Carr - he is staunchly in support of first amendment rights Right, because he said this on a conservative podcast: Hours earlier, FCC Chair Brendan Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that Kimmel’s comments were “truly sick,” and that there was a “strong case” for action against ABC and Disney. “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” "easy way or the hard way" sounds pretty staunchly against the first amendment to me and more like a fascist thug.
  - SilverElfin 1y ago
    I linked an article that you may want to read. He is against any actions taken around online speech due to the first amendment. He is okay with applying FCC’s regulatory authority because the courts - including SCOTUS - have upheld its constitutionality (prior to this administration).
    - fzeroracer 1y ago
      Right, don't listen to Brendan Carr's actions or the words he literally tells you, instead read this completely separate article about how he's totally in favor of Freedom of Speech while stomping on your rights. Do you even see the cognitive dissonance in play here or are you just completely in favor of running interference for someone taking actions against the constitution?
    - anigbrowl 1y ago
      I'm confused - are you saying he didn't make the remarks quoted above?
      - SilverElfin 1y ago
        No, I am not saying that. What I am saying is that he seems to care about acting along the lines of what is constitutional. And the FCC has regulatory authority over broadcasted TV, including on the content itself to some extent. The authority of the FCC on regulating the actual content has been upheld across numerous court cases as being constitutional. The article I linked shows he is unwilling to implement censorship that is unconstitutional despite there being some calls for it on the political right.

CodingJeebus 1y ago

The implication here is that Nexstar wants a merger, which requires FCC approval. How does one get FCC approval under the current administration? Do them a favor and apply leverage to out a political opponent.

SilverElfin 1y ago
The merger is a good point. Assuming that the commissioners (not just Carr) were to participate in such a scheme. But this type of indirect regulatory pressure wouldn’t be new. Many tech companies implemented government directed online censorship (for example on COVID related topics) because they were worried about antitrust actions.
- Braxton1980 1y ago
  And Republicans protested loudly about this making freedom of speech a key reason to vote for them
- hypeatei 1y ago
  > Many tech companies implemented government directed online censorship Can you provide evidence for this? Right wing truisms are not sufficient.
  - SilverElfin 1y ago
    It is very easy to find lots of evidence with a few searches if you’re curious. Here is one: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/zuckerberg-says-the-white-house-pressured-facebook-to-censor-some-covid-19-content-during-the-pandemic https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/zuckerberg-says-the-wh... Edit: can’t reply to comment below me but that quote is referring to the instances where the company pushed back. It’s not saying they didn’t comply at all - they absolutely did on many instances, and Zuckerberg admitted guilt over it. See later quote: > “I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” he said, without elaborating. “We’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”

anigbrowl 1y ago

This comment posted earlier by Commissioner Carr seems relevant here: https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1968449919221416427 https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1968449919221416427 I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead. Amusingly, one of the replies quotes Carr in 2019 saying 'The FCC does not have a mandate to police speech in the name of the 'public interest.'' https://x.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1968485214511878199 https://x.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1968485214511878199