Jimmy Kimmel May Face Federal Investigation as Carr Vows To Probe Broadcast TV Stars Who Don’t Disclose Political Fundraising

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, is signaling potential trouble for ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, warning that the FCC will be investigating broadcasters for not disclosing when they fundraise for political candidates. Mr. Kimmel, the far left host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, is a prolific fundraiser for Democratic candidates, and emceed a key 2024 fundraiser attended by Presidents Biden and Obama. While he makes no effort to hide his disdain for President Trump and MAGA on the air, he may soon face scrutiny for not disclosing to viewers that he has donated to Democratic candidates, some of whom he interviews on his show, and some for whom he personally campaigned for candidates in his home state of Nevada, a battleground state. The degree of his political activities on behalf of Democrats makes Mr. Kimmel stand out from the typical, anti-Trump Hollywood celebrity. He is considered one of the most powerful Democrats in Hollywood. Left-wing commentators have fretted about Mr. Carr’s warning that he plans to enforce his agency’s rules more aggressively than his predecessors. In January, he said that the FCC is considering applying the equal time rule — which says that if a broadcast station lends its platform to a legally filed candidate for office, it must provide the same amount of time to that politician’s opponents — to daytime and late-night talk shows. Those programs have almost exclusively booked Democratic candidates for years, but the FCC declined to take action. The anti-Trump ABC television personality Jimmy Kimmel poses with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy at a ‘No Kings’ rally in Torrance, California. @ChrisMurphyCT on XMr. Carr has also repeatedly suggested that his agency might pull broadcast licenses from networks that violate its rules, though that is not as simple as proponents of such actions make it sound. It would require the agency to pull the licenses of the individual local stations that carry the programs. On Tuesday, CNBC’s Sara Eisen told Mr. Carr, “You’ve threatened this, you’ve launched some investigations, but we haven’t seen any action yet. Is that coming?The chairman responded that the FCC has a “number of enforcement actions that are underway,” such as an investigation into ABC’s “The View” for allegedly violating the equal time rule.He also mentioned the FCC’s conflict of interest rule, which could put Mr. Kimmel in the agency’s crosshairs.“A lot of people don’t know this, but there’s a conflict of interest rule that applies to broadcasters, both personal/financial, but also personal/political,” he said. President Biden speaks during a campaign event with former President Obama moderated by Jimmy Kimmel, left, at the Peacock Theater, Saturday, June 15, 2024, at Los Angeles. AP Photo/Alex BrandonMs. Eisen asked if it would be a conflict of interest violation if an anchor or host had given money to a political candidate.“It could potentially be giving money, it could be more about fundraising, it could be active involvement in political campaigns. And we’re going to be looking at those issues,” Mr. Carr said. He added that the conflict-of-interest rule would not prevent anchors from being involved in a political campaign, so long as they disclosed their involvement to their viewers. Last fall, Mr. Kimmel came under fire from a conservative watchdog group, the Center for American Rights, CAR, for his political advocacy and fundraising for Democratic candidates. The CAR asked the FCC to investigate Mr. Kimmel’s political donations. It noted that Mr. Kimmel’s hosting of the 2024 Biden fundraiser. That same month, he had Vice President Kamala Harris on his show as a guest, but the watchdog said Mr. Kimmel “did not disclose that he was headlining a fundraising event for her campaign.”Kimmel poses with other ‘No Kings’ rally participants at the Torrance event. InstagramIn a complaint to the FCC, the CAR said Mr. Kimmel “consistently hijacked the public airwaves [in 2024] for his personal political agenda: supporting the Biden-Harris-Walz ticket by showering it with free airtime and the glitz and glam associated with his celebrity. And he did so without ever telling the viewers that he was personally engaged in their race.”Despite that complaint, Mr. Kimmel does not appear to have toned down his off-air political activism. During a “No Kings” rally at Torrance, California, he was seen posing for a picture with a Democratic senator, Chris Murphy. ABC did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Jimmy Kimmel May Face Federal Investigation as Carr Vows To Probe Broadcast TV Stars Who Don’t Disclose Political Fundraising

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