WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — Federal Communications Commission leaders are facing fresh ethics questions after accepting expensive tickets from Paramount to attend the Kennedy Center Honors gala while overseeing major business deals involving the media company, according to a ProPublica investigation.
The report says FCC Chair Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty accepted tickets to the star-studded event after they voted to approve Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. Ethics experts argue the gifts create the appearance of a conflict of interest because the FCC regulates Paramount and continues to review another major transaction involving the company.
The annual Kennedy Center Honors gala is one of Washington’s most exclusive cultural events. Guests attended a black-tie ceremony hosted by President Donald Trump. This year’s honorees included actor Sylvester Stallone, rock band Kiss,s and singer Gloria Gaynor.
According to ethics records obtained by ProPublica, Paramount gave Trusty and a guest tickets worth more than $12,000. Carr and his wife reportedly sat in a private skybox with Paramount CEO David Ellison and other company executives. Similar seats reportedly sold for $125,000 each under Kennedy Center fundraising guidelines.
Carr’s latest financial disclosure has not yet become public. However, previous filings show he accepted Kennedy Center gala tickets worth more than $63,000 since joining the FCC in 2017.
Federal ethics rules generally prohibit government employees from accepting gifts from companies regulated by their agencies or from businesses seeking official action. Still, FCC officials have attended the Kennedy Center gala for years under what the agency says is a long-standing ethics review process.
The FCC said its ethics officers approved attendance at the event. The agency also noted that commissioners from both Republican and Democratic administrations attended the gala under similar circumstances. Therefore, officials argued the practice remained consistent across multiple administrations.
However, several ethics experts strongly disagreed with that explanation.
Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, said regulators should never accept valuable gifts from companies with matters pending before their agencies. He argued that such actions damage public confidence in government decisions.
Virginia Canter, a former White House ethics lawyer who now serves with Democracy Defenders Fund, also criticized the commissioners’ actions. She said participating in future FCC decisions involving Paramount could undermine the integrity of the regulatory process.
The controversy comes as Paramount pursues another blockbuster deal. After completing its merger with Skydance, the company launched a takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. That proposed transaction, valued at about $110 billion, also requires FCC approval.
The planned merger would combine major entertainment brands, including CBS, CNN, Paramount+, HBO Max, and several cable networks under one company. Meanwhile, critics argue the deal could reduce competition and limit diversity across the entertainment industry.
In addition, California, New York, and 10 other Democratic-led states recently filed a lawsuit seeking to block the merger under federal and state antitrust laws. British regulators have also signaled plans to examine the transaction.
Currently, the FCC has only three commissioners. As a result, any commission vote would likely depend on Carr and Trusty, while Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez remains the lone opposing vote. Ethics experts say any commissioner who accepted Paramount gifts should consider stepping aside from decisions involving the company.
The FCC has defended its position by citing the “widely attended gathering” exception under federal ethics rules. Agency officials reportedly concluded that the Kennedy Center event met the legal requirements for that exemption.
Nevertheless, ethics specialists questioned that interpretation. They argued the gala serves mainly as an entertainment event rather than a government-related policy forum. They also noted that federal guidance specifically warns officials against accepting free attendance from outside sponsors under many circumstances.
ProPublica’s review of ethics disclosures found that seven of the 10 FCC commissioners serving since 2016 accepted Kennedy Center tickets from CBS or Paramount. Together, those gifts exceeded $260,000 over the past decade.
Neither Carr nor Trusty responded to ProPublica’s requests for comment. Paramount also defended the invitations, saying CBS has invited government officials from both political parties to the Kennedy Center Honors for decades.
Legal experts believe the ethics questions could complicate future FCC decisions involving Paramount. If courts determine the agency failed to follow ethics standards, they could closely examine any approval involving the company’s latest merger plans.
