Jimmy Kimmel’s upcoming interview with Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico will not air on ABC, the talk show host announced, citing the network’s legal troubles with Trump’s FCC as the cause.
The late night host shared the news during his opening monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday, beginning by discussing the Texas Senate race in which Talarico is leading Republican Ken Paxton, according to recent polls.
“I will be interviewing James Talarico tomorrow night under unusual circumstances,” Kimmel said, before explaining that the interview will go directly to YouTube and not air on ABC amid the network’s ongoing issues with the FCC.
“You know, for a lot of years, 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. I’ve interviewed a lot of political candidates. From Hilary Clinton to Ted Cruz to Donald Trump,” Kimmel said.
“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 said that since Trump became president, “his FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations, based on simple, traditional, editorial decisions, guest bookings it would seem they don’t like.”
“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 Terico will not air on television. It will be posted on YouTube instead. It will not be on TV,” Kimmel revealed, prompting boos from the audience.
“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.”
The FCC did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
The FCC’s scrutiny of ABC has become closely intertwined with Kimmel’s own clashes with the agency.
Last year, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr infamously threatened action against Kimmel after the comedian’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing, warning ABC and its affiliates that they could deal with the FCC “the easy way or the hard way” shortly before the network briefly pulled his show from the air.
Last month, the network and its parent company Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the government agency, accusing it of launching a “retaliatory campaign” over its news coverage and programming. The suit specifically cites Carr's comments about Kimmel.
The FCC has asked a court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the case belongs in a federal appeals court and that its review of ABC’s broadcast licenses is justified.
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