FCC chair levels threat against ABC, Disney after Kimmel suggested Charlie Kirk assassin was 'MAGA'

On Monday, Kimmel accused conservatives of reaching "new lows" in trying to pin a left-wing ideology on 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson, even though prosecutors reaffirmed those ties in Tuesday's indictment.

"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," Kimmel said.

Appearing on Wednesday's "The Benny Show," Carr called Kimmel's comments "some of the sickest conduct" and suggested there were potential "avenues" the FCC could pursue.

"And I've been very clear from the moment that I have become chairman of the FCC, I want to reinvigorate the public interest. And what people don't understand is that the broadcasters, and you've gotten this right, are entirely different than people that use other forms of communication. They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest," the official added.

"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

Carr signaled that an apology from Kimmel would be a "very reasonable, minimal step" but also floated a "suspension" by the network as a potential remedy. He also called on licensed broadcasters, particularly those not owned by Disney itself, to "push back" against the House of Mouse and threaten to preempt its content if action isn't taken. 

"Public interest means you can't be running a narrow partisan circus and still meeting your public interest obligations," he said. "That means you can't be engaging in a pattern of news distortion."

While Carr refrained from flat-out accusing Kimmel of news distortion, citing the potential of a legal battle down the road, he did say an argument could be made that the liberal host had "an intentional effort to mislead the American people."

"This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney," Carr added.