N.C. Congressman Says Kimmel Boot Should Be Business Issue, Defends Free Speech

The FCC should have never gotten involved with the decision to pull "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" from ABC, North Carolina U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan (R) says.

TMZ caught up with Harrigan Friday, and while he's not opposed to Jimmy being indefinitely booted from the network ... he says how it happened is quite "troubling."

He tells us he thinks it's "troubling" what Jimmy said on-air following Charlie Kirk's death, but it's not the government's job to censor him ... and it "should be a business decision and a business decision alone."

He underscores the bedrock importance of the U.S. Consititution's First Amendment, warning we must be "protective" of our freedom of speech and "vigilantly watchful of our freedoms" because, as our Founding Fathers said ... they can be stripped away in a lifetime.

But again, he's not excusing Jimmy's statements ... noting while we have freedom of speech, "we need to be responsible and we have to be respectful of our words."

He also comes to Donald Trump's defense during our chat, saying there's no doubt that "there's a different level of vitriol toward Donald Trump" than past presidents.

As you know, ABC abruptly yanked Jimmy off the air Wednesday following pressure from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr over his comments about the reactions to Charlie's murder.

In part, the late-night host said ... "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them."

That led to public outrage, and Trump celebrated when he was taken off air -- and claimed Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon would be next.

Seth, Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart and more of Kimmel's peers all supported him during their respective broadcasts following the shocking news.