‘It’s Reprehensible’: Former Trump Adviser Blasts Administration’s Pressure Campaign Against Kimmel
A former adviser to President Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns let loose over the Trump administration’s efforts to retaliate against Jimmy Kimmel.
ABC, which is owned by Disney, suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday, mere hours after Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened the network. On Monday’s show, Kimmel appeared to suggest, erroneously, that the suspect who allegedly killed Charlie Kirk was a Trump supporter.
“Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said on Wednesday. “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.”
On Friday’s AC360 on CNN, Anderson Cooper asked Urban how the Trump supporters who backed Kimmel’s suspension after government pressure can reconcile that with the president’s past remarks about free speech.
“David, how does a supporter of the president square the president’s comments from eight months ago, saying, ‘I’m gonna pass this executive order protecting free speech, never again will the government use its immense power to silence anyone,’ with these actions?” Cooper said.
Urban replied by saying he agrees with comments from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who sharply criticized Carr for targeting Kimmel.
“Look, I like Brendan Carr. He’s a good guy,” Cruz said. “But what he said there is dangerous as hell.”
“I believe that he’s exactly correct,” Urban responded. “Whether it’s Elizabeth Warren pressuring… Amazon to censor searches for books on Covid or whether it’s Joe Biden pressuring Mark Zuckerberg during Covid to take things away, or whether it’s Donald Trump and Brendan Carr pressuring, you know, in this situation, I think it’s reprehensible. I think it’s wrong. I think cancel culture in any form is wrong.”
Urban went on to claim that comedians such as Kimmel and Jon Stewart and their satire are “part of the American system.” He did, however, go on to say that Kimmel should have tempered his remarks after Kirk’s assassination.
Watch above via CNN.
