McConnell says Cruz 'got it right' with criticism of FCC’s Carr
Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) has had his share of battles with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over the years, but on Monday he said Cruz “got it right” when the Texas senator said last week that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr’s pressure on ABC to suspend late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel was “dangerous as hell” and something out of a mob movie.
“Well, my colleague, Ted Cruz, said it looked just like Goodfellas. As a First Amendment guy, myself, I think he’s probably got it right,” McConnell wrote on the social media platform X above an article highlighting Cruz’s comparison of Carr’s pressure on ABC to a scene from the classic mafia movie directed by Martin Scorsese.
“You don’t have to like what somebody says on TV to agree that the government shouldn’t be getting involved here,” McConnell wrote.
Cruz, a prominent conservative and Trump ally, made headlines last week when he criticized Carr’s comments about the possibility of FCC intervention if ABC didn’t discipline Kimmel for comments he made about the young man accused of murdering conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Carr, in an interview with a conservative podcaster, criticized Kimmel for saying “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and trying to “score political points.”
Carr called Kimmel’s comments “really, really sick” and warned the FCC could look at “remedies” if ABC didn’t take action in response to the backlash from conservatives to Kimmel’s comments.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Cruz balked at that statement during an interview on his podcast, "Verdict."
“I got to say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar, going, ‘Nice bar you have here, it would be a shame if something happened to it,'” Cruz said, referring to the film starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, who played 1970s-era New York gangsters.
“Let me tell you if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you the media says. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like.’ That will end up bad for conservatives,” Cruz warned.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) joined Cruz in criticizing Carr’s comments during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, calling them “absolutely inappropriate.”
Paul said the FCC “has got no business weighing in on this” and pledged to push back.
“Any attempt by the government to get involved with speech — I will fight,” he said.
But the libertarian-leaning conservative defended ABC’s decision to pull Kimmel off the air.
“People have to also realize that despicable comments, you have the right to say them,” he said. “But you don’t have the right to employment. Virtually everybody employed … has a code of conduct. In your contract, you have to adhere to it.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) took the opposing view during an appearance Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," arguing Carr’s threat was not consequential and that Kimmel’s joke crossed a line.
“This is also a network that has not been friendly to this administration whatsoever. And so I don’t think a threat would make any difference whatsoever,” he said.
“They made a decision because Jimmy Kimmel said something that was extremely insensitive and a flat-out lie about the president of the United States, and there was no excuse for it."