Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel brushed off the Senate’s questioning of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr on Wednesday and said nothing was likely to come of it.
Kimmel joked that the hearing had stemmed from an “unwanted vacation” he had taken in September and quipped that Carr “is the tough guy who threatened the company I work for, saying we could do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Carr appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee, testifying for the first time since his comments in September targeting ABC’s handling of Kimmel over his controversial remarks about the Charlie Kirk assassination.
Kimmel noted that the hearing aired on C-SPAN3, joking, “You know it’s bad when you can’t even make the main C-SPAN.”
Jimmy Kimmel brushed off the Senate’s grilling of FCC Chair Brendan Carr on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (ABC/JimmyKimmelLive)
“In the end, none of the Republicans confronted the commissioner anyway. No one watched this. No one admitted to anything. Nothing was done to prevent it from happening again. No oneâs held accountable and your freedom of speech is only guaranteed depending on what you have to say. It was not the bipartisan effort we might have expected,” Kimmel said.
FCC Chair Carr did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Kimmel also said he couldnât believe he was the subject of a Senate hearing.
“It was so weird watching this morning while I made bagels for my kids. If you told me 30 years ago the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation would be holding a hearing about me, I guess I would assume I got drunk on a plane and tried to force the door open in the air?” he joked.
JIMMY KIMMEL CHOKES UP AS HE EXPLAINS KIRK COMMENTS, SAYS HE ‘NEVER’ INTENDED TO MOCK ASSASSINATION
Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr.
Kimmel was briefly suspended due to remarks he had made about Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter in September, but returned to air a few days later.
The suspension drew bipartisan criticism, with some conservatives expressing concern over Carr’s comments about ABC.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
Jimmy Kimmel, winner of the Outstanding Host for a Game Show Award for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, attends the 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater on Sept. 7, 2025, in Los Angeles, California.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at the time that Carr’s remarks were “dangerous as hell.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying weâre going to decide what speech we like and what we donât, and weâre going to threaten to take you off-air if we donât like what youâre saying,” Cruz said on his podcast.
Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.
