U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has spoken out about the ongoing controversy regarding the temporary removal of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” saying that the decision to remove the show was correct, but the process was questionable.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Kimmel was temporarily suspended from the air following insensitive comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
“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 and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” said the comedian.
Cruz quickly spoke out against the comments made by Kimmel, saying that he was “thrilled that he was fired” for the insensitive comments made on television, per the BBC.
However, Cruz has specified that threats made by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr were a step too far, explaining on his podcast that these threats are “dangerous as hell” for both sides.
“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying,” he explained, per NBC News.
The senator likened Carr’s comments to the movie “Goodfellas,” explaining that the threats from the FCC Chairman are similar to those made by organized crime groups.
“We’re going to take them off the air so ABC cannot broadcast anymore. He says we can do this the easy way, or we could do this the hard way, yeah. And I got to say that’s right out of Goodfellas,” Cruz said, per the BBC.
“That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it.”
Cruz later added that these types of threats can quickly come back to hurt the right in the future, explaining that officials could attempt to silence future political activists.
“They will silence us,” he said, per Politico. “They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly.”
Disney recently announced that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to the screen on Tuesday. Still, it remains unclear whether the comedian will apologize for the comments he made.