Jimmy Kimmel says FCC pressure forced Talarico interview to move to YouTube

Jimmy Kimmel said the Federal Communications Commission warned his program and its network about airing an interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, leading the segment to be released on YouTube rather than on broadcast television. Kimmel noted that his show has featured political candidates for more than two decades without issue, but suggested the situation changed during the Trump administration.

"His FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations," Kimmel said on his Wednesday night program. The FCC has not commented on the specific grounds for the alleged warning. Anna Gomez, the commission’s sole Democratic member, posted on social media that the decision to keep the interview off the air illustrates “how far this Administration's campaign of censorship and control has gone,” and called the action “intimidation.” She added that she hopes courts will clarify that the FCC should not dictate editorial choices. The incident follows a similar move earlier this year when Stephen Colbert’s interview with Talarico was shifted online after network concerns about complying with the FCC’s equal-time rule for political candidates. The rule, traditionally applied to news programs, was extended in January to include late-night and daytime talk shows under the current administration. In August, Disney-owned ABC filed a lawsuit against the FCC, arguing that the agency’s demand for early review of broadcast licenses infringed on First Amendment rights. The review had been ordered after the network’s diversity and inclusion policies were cited, and came shortly after Kimmel made a joke about the first lady that drew criticism from the president.