Under the apparent threat by the FCC, Jimmy Kimmel says an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico that was originally set to air on his late-night show on Thursday will now air exclusively on YouTube.
“For the whole 20-plus years of our show, in fact, I’ve been interviewing Americans who are running for office with no problem at all, just like Letterman did, Leno did, Arsenio, etc., etc,” Kimmel. said during the Wednesday monologue of Jimmy Kimmel Live. “I’ve interviewed a lot of political candidates, from Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz to Donald Trump himself. I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015. And at that time, when he was the one sitting next to me, he seemed to have no problem with the idea of talk show hosts interviewing candidates. In fact, he was very eager to come back for another interview, which he did just before he became the nominee in 2016.”
“But for some reason — and I can’t seem to figure out what that reason is — something has changed,” Kimmel continued. “Now that he is president, his FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, and our affiliates, our local stations, based on simple, traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings, it would seem they don’t like.”
Earlier this year, a similarly planned interview between Talarico and Stephen Colbert on CBS’s The Late Show was not broadcast after network lawyers expressed concerns that it could violate the FCC’s equal time rule. Those concerns came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued new guidance on how the agency interprets the rule, which critics argued could pressure programs such as The View, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and The Daily Show to feature fewer partisan voices. Colbert’s interview was instead released on YouTube, the same approach ABC is now taking with Kimmel’s interview.
“And so, out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas who would have to deal with this nonsense, my interview tomorrow with James Talarico will not air on television,” Kimmel explained. It will be posted on YouTube instead. It will not be on TV. So if you want to learn about a candidate for the Senate tomorrow, you will have to go to the Jimmy Kimmel Live! YouTube channel, where you will see it in its entirety. And thank goodness we have that, because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do until November. Of course, make sure you’re registered to vote, by the way, because that’s the most important thing you can do.”
ABC is currently suing the FCC after launched an early review of ABC’s local broadcast licenses, citing the network’s internal diversity and inclusion practices. The FCC’s review also followed Trump’s repeated criticism of ABC programming including Jimmy Kimmel Live and The View, and a pressure campaign to even take these shows off the air.
