Jimmy Kimmel faces FED probe over claim Charlie Kirk suspect was MAGA

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel could be probed by federal investigators after telling his audience that Charlie Kirk's suspected killer was a MAGA supporter.

Federal Communications Commission boss Brendan Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson on Wednesday he was considering an investigation into Kimmel and his network ABC over remarks the host made about suspected shooter Tyler Robinson, 22, in the wake of Kirk's murder.

Prosecutors say the suspect - who was charged with killing Kirk at a university event in Orem, Utah - had leftist leanings.

'When you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible,' Carr told Johnson.

'As you've indicated, there are avenues here for the FCC, so there... are some ways in which I need to be a little bit careful because we could be called ultimately to be a judge on some of these claims that come up.'

Kimmel's comments about Robinson came during his Monday night monologue.

'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,' the host said.      

In response to Kimmel's remarks, Carr floated the idea of suspending the host - one of several prospective 'remedies' for the situation, he said.

At one point, Johnson asked Carr what kind of action he thought should be taken, proposing an on-air apology from Kimmel.

'I think what you said there strikes me as a very reasonable, minimal step that can be taken,' Carr replied. 

The FCC chief also spoke about President Trump's approach to legacy media.

'And one thing that President Trump did when he ran for office here is ran directly at that legacy media establishment,' Carr said.

'He smashed a façade that they get to control what we say, what we think, the narrative around events.'

Carr claimed that 'we're seeing a lot of consequences that are flowing from President Trump doing that.'

He brought up successful bids to defund both NPR and PBS, as well as the 'retirement' of Stephen Colbert, whose show has been cancelled by CBS.

'Joy Reid is out at MSNBC. Terry Moran is gone from ABC and now admitting that they are biased,' Carr said.

'CBS has now made some commitments to us that will return to more fact-based journalism. 

'So I think you see some lashing out from people like Kimmel, who are frankly talentless, and are looking for ways to get attention.'

The federal official's warning is likely to spook bosses at ABC, who settled with Trump for $16million last year after Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos said on air that Trump had been found civilly liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll.

Trump had actually been found liable for sexually abusing Carroll during an encounter in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-'90s.

The president also secured a $16million settlement from CBS News parent Paramount over a lawsuit the president filed accusing the network of 'deceptively' editing an interview with Kamala Harris.

Carr was appointed to his position by Trump in November. The official previously served as a general counsel for the FCC and three terms as its commissioner. 

Carr has backed legislation that would punish social media companies that block or suspend users for certain 'viewpoints,' and also supported Trump's call for licenses to be stripped from the three major broadcast networks for coverage choices he deemed uncalled for.

Last Wednesday, MSNBC fired political analyst Matthew Dowd for implying it was Kirk's 'hateful words' that got him killed.

'Frankly, I think it's really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, "Listen, we are going to... we're not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out,"' Carr continued in his conversation with Johnson.

'"Because we, the licensed broadcaster, are running  the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of news distortion."'

'So, I think - again - Disney needs to seem some change here, but the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say, you know, this garbage - to the extent that that's what comes down the pipe in the future - isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities.

'But this sort of status quo is not acceptable, where we are.' 

Robinson, a Utah native raised by a conservative family, has been charged with capital murder and had his first court appearance Tuesday. 

In a text to his roommate shortly after the murder, Robinson allegedly said of Kirk: 'I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out.' 

In another, Robinson discussed how his father 'has been pretty die-hard MAGA' since President Trump had been re-elected. 

On NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said that Robinson comes from a conservative family but that 'his ideology was very different than his family.'

'Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on,' Cox said. 'Friends have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep.'