(Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head Brendan Carr accepted thousands in gifts from Paramount while a major merger proposal between the company and Warner Bros. Discovery awaits approval, according to a new investigative report.
ProPublica’s Corey G. Johnson reported on Wednesday that Carr and another FCC commissioner, Olivia Trusty, have received perks that could raise ethics concerns.
According to ethics disclosure records reviewed by ProPublica, Trusty was gifted tickets to the Kennedy Center Honors, an event where those who had donated $75,000 or more to the center were prioritized for tickets. Trusty reportedly was gifted the tickets by Paramount, and they are worth about $12,000.
It was also reported that Carr and his wife had a special view of the event, sitting in a private skybox with Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison and other executives from the company. Those seats are estimated to cost around $125,000.
Carr has not filed his financial disclosures for the previous year, so it’s unclear if the seats were directly gifted by Paramount. Previous financial disclosures show he has accepted tickets seven times since being appointed in 2017, with the tickets’ value estimated at over $60,000.
Multiple ethics experts raised alarm, saying accepting the tickets meant the FCC officials “compromised the FCC’s impartiality and should not take part in any upcoming decision on the merger.”
An FCC spokesperson denied any wrongdoing and said “ethics officers” have cleared the appearances of commissioners.
“FCC Chairs and officials have attended the same event, in the same ways, consistently from the Trump Administration to the Biden Administration to the Obama Administration,” the spokesperson said. “There has been no change in recent years.”
Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros is facing some legal hurdles, including multiple states suing to block the takeover. Ellison’s Skydance previously took over Paramount, leading to major changes at CBS News and the long-running 60 Minutes.
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