Brendan Carr
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Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission · United States
On the regime page: Trump administration
5 quotes, oldest first. Filter with other speakers.
“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 the “public interest.””
Posted when Carr was a commissioner, in reaction to an op-ed by fellow commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel calling for restrictions on e-cigarette advertising, according to Deadline's later account of the post.
Post on X (@BrendanCarrFCC), 14 February 2019 (then an FCC Commissioner) Source
Content note: Warning to broadcasters over a comedian's remarks. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Carr, then FCC Chairman, was responding to remarks by Jimmy Kimmel on his ABC show about the suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk. Hours later, Nexstar said its ABC affiliates would stop airing the show, and Disney then suspended it; it returned a week later. Carr said afterwards the remark was not a threat to pull licenses.
Interview with Benny Johnson, 17 September 2025, as quoted by Deadline, "FCC Chairman Says His 'Easy Way Or The Hard Way' Comment About Jimmy Kimmel Wasn't Meant As A Threat To Pull Licenses If ABC Didn't Fire Him" Source
“Look, there’s calls for Kimmel to be fired. You could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this. Again, the FCC is going to have remedies that we can look at. We may ultimately be called to be a judge on that.”
From the same interview. Deadline reports that Carr also said licensed broadcasters should push back on Comcast and Disney because they faced 'the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of news distortion.'
Interview with Benny Johnson, 17 September 2025, as quoted by Deadline, "FCC Chairman Says His 'Easy Way Or The Hard Way' Comment About Jimmy Kimmel Wasn't Meant As A Threat To Pull Licenses If ABC Didn't Fire Him" Source
“As Congress, the Supreme Court, and the FCC have all made clear, broadcasters are different than every other distributor of media. Specifically, broadcasters are required by both the Communications Act and the terms of their FCC-issued licenses to operate in the public interest.”
Written testimony at an FCC oversight hearing held three months after the Kimmel episode.
Testimony of Chairman Brendan Carr, "Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission," U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, 17 December 2025, p. 5 Source
“Congress has instructed the FCC to enforce public interest requirements on broadcasters. The FCC should do exactly that.”
Quoted from his written testimony at a hearing where Democrats questioned him about the Kimmel episode and FCC investigations of national broadcasters. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez criticised the approach at the same hearing.
Written testimony of Chairman Brendan Carr to the House committee at the FCC oversight hearing, January 2026, as quoted by Deadline, "At House Hearing, FCC Chairman Continues To Defend Authority To Enforce 'Public Interest Standard'" Source