Mika Brzezinski Torches FCC Chair With His Own Words Defending ‘Satire’ and Press Freedom
Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski torched Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr with his own past defense of “political satire” and press freedom as she lambasted his Wednesday remarks that prompted the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Jimmy Kimmel’s show was suspended by ABC following backlash over a Monday monologue, where he said the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Pressure escalated after Carr, in an interview with conservative host Benny Johnson, urged “individual licensed stations” to “step up.” Hours later, Nexstar moved to preempt the programme, and ABC soon followed by announcing that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be pulled indefinitely.
On Thursday’s Morning Joe, however, Brzezinski lectured Carr with his own words, loading up multiple tweets and public statements from him defending “political satire” and “newsroom” independence from government interference:
Well, I mentioned. Brendan Carr, FCC chairman Brendan Carr, was named to the position by President Trump last year after rising through the ranks at the agency. He’s long spoken out against government censorship and for the freedom of speech.
In 2019. Carr posted on social media. Quote. ‘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’.’
In 2021, he wrote. Quote, ‘A newsroom’s decision about what stories to cover and how to frame them should be beyond the reach of any government official.’
In 2022, Carr posted, quote, ‘political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.’
In 2023, he said, quote, ‘free speech is the counterweight – it is the check on government control. That is why censorship is the authoritarians dream.’
“And yet here was Carr in an interview yesterday, right before ABC announced they were pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air,” she added, introducing the clip from Johnson’s podcast.
Watch above via MSNBC.
