Former Reps. Pete King and Jack Kingston, appearing Sunday on Newsmax, criticized a call to ban Newsmax from New York City taxi screens, calling the effort censorship and unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.
"You're absolutely not allowed to have viewpoint discrimination, which is what the First [Amendment] protection is all about," Kingston, R-Ga., told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend." "You might not like what somebody's saying, but they still have the right to say it."
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, in a letter to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, urged officials to intervene and remove Newsmax from the Curb screens inside the city's cabs.
Newsmax is pushing back sharply against the call to remove the network from the city taxi screens.
"This is a pure act of censorship targeting a news organization reaching over 50 million Americans regularly. Newsmax plays it straight, and that drives the far left crazy," Newsmax commented in a statement.
The city's iconic yellow taxis are privately owned, but must obtain city-issued medallions, or permits letting them operate.
Asked for his reaction and whether Mamdani would respond, Kingston said such issues are "the kind of thing he seems to love ... fighting against American values in the U.S. Constitution.
"On a licensing agreement, you can't forgo your other rights just because these taxis have to have a license. That doesn't mean that they can't have their own rights to the Constitution."
Kingston also raised privacy concerns, saying the screens involve a private company and government officials should not intervene.
"If I as a passenger, I'm watching something like this, it's privacy," he said. "The government doesn't have the right to insert itself into our own private conversation or discussion."
King agreed the proposal amounted to censorship.
"Just when you think it can't get any worse in New York, something like this happens. ... As a New Yorker, it's embarrassing," the Republican said.
He added that the issue underscores Newsmax's growing reach.
"In many ways its a tribute to Newsmax," King said, adding that for a city official to concentrate such effort on removing the network means Newsmax "really is making an impact."
King said Newsmax is "making inroads" by "giving straight news."
"There's nothing particularly political about the news at all," he said. "This is great news they're giving, and that's more than the Manhattan borough president can handle."
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