JD Vance is taking aim at major TV networks and raising the idea that some of them should lose their broadcast licenses.
Speaking with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Thursday, the vice president brushed off concerns that free speech was under attack after ABC briefly suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week. The move came after Trump-appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to use the commission’s power against the network, reported CNN.
“I’d like them to tell me exactly what Brendan Carr did to have Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air,” Vance said. “I think that Brendan Carr put out a couple of tweets or a couple of truths, or whatever he did, that does not constitute government coercion.”
But Carr had done more than tweet. Hours before ABC pulled Kimmel, Carr suggested the FCC might strip ABC of its broadcasting license over a joke Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk’s assassin. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Vance doubled down on the idea that broadcasters must meet a higher standard. “These broadcast companies—ABC, NBC, CBS—they enjoy the public airwaves because they serve the public interest,” he told Ingraham. He added, “So I actually think that we should be having a conversation about whether these companies are serving the public interest.”
Unlike cable outlets such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, broadcast networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS must apply for federal licenses to operate. The FCC regulates them and requires, by law, that stations operate in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.”
Former President Donald Trump has also been pressing the issue. Last week he claimed that “97 percent” of networks were against him and suggested their licenses should be revoked. “When you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that,” he complained.
Vance said his skepticism about the networks goes beyond Kimmel. “It’s actually totally separate from the Jimmy Kimmel issue because nothing happened to him. He’s currently on the air,” he said.
Still, Vance had sharp words for the late-night host. The 41-year-old vice president, who was close to conservative activist Charlie Kirk, said Kimmel owed an apology to Kirk’s widow, Erika, and to conservatives. He accused Kimmel of smearing “right-wing America” by suggesting Kirk’s murder was tied to the MAGA movement.
Kimmel’s show returned on Tuesday after the suspension. In his September 15 monologue, Kimmel had connected Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing Kirk, to what he called the “MAGA gang.”