Ilhan Omar Applauds ‘Principled’ Ted Cruz for Jimmy Kimmel Concerns
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said she is experiencing a rare moment of unity with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) after the Republican raised concerns over the FCC potentially pressuring ABC to suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“Ted seems to be one of the few people on the right who seems to have a principled stance on this,” Omar said on MSNBC’s The Weekend on Saturday night.
Omar then went into wordy description of the First Amendment, followed by her claiming the FCC threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcast license if Kimmel was not pulled off of the air.
“When the government in itself says we are not going to renew the license unless this person’s voice is taken off the air, then we get to a level of censorship that does violate someone’s First Amendment rights,” Omar said.
She added this is all part of how President Donald Trump “cracks down on free speech.”
Her comments come a few days after ABC suspended Kimmel for saying the man who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk was a Republican.
“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,” Kimmel said on his show last Monday.
Kimmel was criticized by many for the claim, considering the reported details point to Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s suspected killer, being a leftist.
Robinson reportedly had a romantic relationship with his trans roommate, used phrases associated with Antifa, and, in text messages released on Tuesday, said he shot Kirk because of the conservative influencer’s “hatred.” Utah officials have said Robinson was “indoctrinated” in far-left “ideology” in the years leading up to Kirk’s murder.
ABC suspended Kimmel on Wednesday, after pushback from Nexstar and Sinclair, the companies behind its biggest affiliates, and hours after FCC Chair Brendan Carr said “remedies” would be pursued against the comedian, if ABC did not punish him first.
“I mean look, 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 there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Cruz, a day later, said he was not a fan of what Carr said.
“Look, I like Brendan Carr. He’s a good guy,” Cruz said on his podcast. “But what he said there is dangerous as hell. ”
On that point, Omar and Cruz are aligned.
Omar has been busy making the media rounds on Saturday. Earlier in the day, she ripped Kirk on CNN, saying his ideas should ” be in the dustbin of history.”
You can watch her Cruz comments above, via MSNBC.
