Jimmy Kimmel returned to Jimmy Kimmel Live! Tuesday night with a high-profile assist from Robert De Niro, who appeared in a sketch satirizing Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr.
De Niro played a mob-style version of Carr, who was introduced as the “new chairman of the FCC.” Speaking in character, he told Kimmel to “shut the [bleep] up” and declared that “speech ain’t free no more — we’re charging by the word now.”
De Niro’s FCC boss offered free speech in exchange for compliments about President Trump’s appearance, while warning that a joke at Trump’s expense would come at a price. When Kimmel asked exactly how much, De Niro responded, “a couple of fingers, maybe a tooth.”
#JimmyKimmelIsBack with new FFC Chairman Robert De Niro.😎💜#JimmyKimmelLive pic.twitter.com/YBwohsfqq1
— Blanche ⁷💜⟭⟬ᴱ ᴬᴿᴱ ᴮ⟬⟭ᶜᴷ💜⟭⟬ ⟬⟭💜방탄소년단 아미💜아포 방포💜 (@BlancheKnox5) September 24, 2025
The sketch drew directly on remarks Carr made in a podcast interview last week. In that appearance, Carr said that Kimmel could be dealt with “the easy way or the hard way,” language widely criticized as a threat. The comments prompted two large ABC station groups with regulatory business before the FCC—Sinclair and Nexstar—to announce they would stop carrying Kimmel, leading to ABC’s suspension of the show.
Kimmel highlighted the irony of Carr’s phrasing, telling his audience: “If you want to hear a mob boss make a threat like that, you have to hide a microphone in a deli and park outside in a van with a tape recorder all night long. This genius said it on a podcast.”
The mob boss parody was part of an extended two-segment monologue in which Kimmel addressed his suspension.
We get Kimmel on Nexstar so we did not see Tuesdays Kimmel show. Will Nexstar never broadcast Kimmel’s show?
Nexstar and Sinclair are both crybaby bitches!