FCC chair Brendan Carr, left, posted a call on social media for NBC to fire Seth Meyers.
Seth Meyers hosts "Late Night With Seth Meyers" on Nov. 11, 2025.

Brendan Carr is wading back into late-night criticism.

The Federal Communications Commission chair, who was at the center of the Jimmy Kimmel suspension controversy in September, has amplified a call from President Donald Trump for NBC to fire Seth Meyers.

Carr took to his verified X account on Saturday, Nov. 15, to share a Truth Social post from the president directed at Meyers and NBC. Trump wrote that the "Late Night with Seth Meyers" host "is suffering from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome," adding, "Aside from everything else, Meyers has no talent, and NBC should fire him, IMMEDIATELY!"

This wasn't the first time Trump has called for Meyers, a prominent critic of his, to be fired, though the latest remarks were more notable than usual given they were backed by the FCC chair. Carr shared a screenshot of Trump's post without any comment.

In September, Carr attracted criticism for appearing to threaten ABC to take action against Kimmel over comments the comedian made about the killing of Charlie Kirk. At the time, Carr went on conservative commentator Benny Johnson's YouTube show and said that "these companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr also warned.

Hours after Carr made the comments, ABC announced it had suspended production of Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely. The network's decision also followed Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group announcing they would not run "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on their local ABC affiliates.

Supporters of Kimmel decried the suspension as an example of government censorship given the comments Carr made beforehand. Even some of Kimmel's critics slammed the FCC chairman for his statements, with Sen. Ted Cruz saying that while he was happy to see "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" pulled off the air, "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 the air if we don't like what you're saying."

Carr later said his remarks were not intended as a threat. "Jimmy Kimmel is in the situation that he is in because of his ratings, not because of anything that's happened at the federal government level," he said at an event in September.

Kimmel returned to his show on Sept. 23. In his first monologue back, he slammed Carr's comments as a "direct violation of the First Amendment" and "not a particularly intelligent threat to make in public."

Trump previously called for both Meyers and his fellow NBC host Jimmy Fallon to be fired in the wake of Kimmel's suspension, writing in September that the two comedians are both "total losers." Meyers has continued to regularly criticize Trump on his show, and he defended Kimmel amid the ABC suspension.

"This is a big moment in our democracy and we must all stand up for the principles of free expression," Meyers said in September.

Contributing: Joey Garrison; Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump calls for NBC to fire Seth Meyers, FCC Chair Brendan Carr weighs in

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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