Democrats on Capitol Hill are fuming after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel over comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and are accusing Republicans of backing censorship and trampling on the First Amendment.

Democrats are directing their ire in particular at Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr, who applauded the suspension, for what they view as intimidation tactics aimed at drowning out dissenting voices.

“[It] is the biggest attack on First Amendment rights that we've seen since the Alien and Sedition Act [of 1798],” said Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). “This is censorship.”

“The administration does not like what some people are saying, and it's taking extremely aggressive action and using the power of the presidency to intimidate, in this case, a network into canceling a very popular show. It's very very dangerous.”

Others argued that what happened to Kimmel amounts to “cancel culture” and pointed to frequent complaints by Republicans on that front in recent years.

“I never met Charlie Kirk and I didn’t know him, but everybody says he was a free speech guy — including speech that you may not like. So this is what we’re going to do?” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said, noting that he is “very pissed off” at the situation.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on Carr to resign or be fired from his post and labeled him as “one of the greatest threats to free speech America has ever........

© The Hill