FCC Chairman Brendan Carr sarcastically cheered singer Sheryl Crow after she offered her Tesla to protest Elon Musk — and allegedly donated cash from the sale to Nationwide Public Radio.
Carr, who was named by President Trump to guide the highly effective federal panel final month, signaled that the left-leaning radio large will want superstar donations to outlive with out authorities funding.
“I do know celebrities are hesitant to weigh in on sizzling button points, so I admire Sheryl Crow making an argument right here – not via phrases alone, however via her actions – that Congress shouldn’t pressure taxpayers to subsidize NPR,” Carr stated Saturday in a put up on X.
“Bravo,” he added, with an emoji exhibiting fingers clapping.
Trump’s decide, who took the helm on the Federal Communications Fee in January, sniped at Crow after she posted a video on Instagram exhibiting her waving goodbye to her Tesla as the electrical car rode away on a truck.
“My mother and father all the time stated … you might be who you hang around with,” Crow wrote within the put up on Saturday. “There comes a time when you must determine who you might be keen to align with. So lengthy Tesla.”
Within the caption, the singer-songwriter stated she had donated the cash from the Tesla sale to NPR, “which is underneath risk by President Musk, in hopes that the reality will proceed to search out its option to these keen to know the reality.”
She urged her followers to “#ProtectTheConstitution” and name 202-224-3141 — which seems to be the telephone quantity for eating choices within the Senate constructing, based on the Senate’s web site. The telephone quantity is one digit off from the US Capitol switchboard.
Carr argued that Crow’s donation “looks as if an argument in opposition to Congress requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR.”
“Wouldn’t take too many celebrities following Sheryl Crow’s lead and promoting their automobiles to maintain NPR going with out taxpayer {dollars}. #Kars4NPR #CelebrityKars4NPR,” he wrote in one other put up on X.
The chairman appeared to jokingly reference the New Jersey-based car donation nonprofit, identified for its stuck-in-your-head radio jingle, in addition to accusations of deceptive donors.
Final month, Carr ordered a probe into nonprofit media organizations NPR and PBS to research whether or not they violated authorities guidelines by airing paid commercials.
He argued the outcomes of the investigation might sway lawmakers on whether or not the federal government ought to proceed funding the general public information teams.
“To the extent that these taxpayer {dollars} are getting used to assist a for-profit endeavor or an entity that’s airing industrial commercials, then that will additional undermine any case for persevering with to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer {dollars},” Carr wrote in a January letter to NPR and PBS.