Jimmy Kimmel says he dropped Talarico interview from broadcast after FCC pressure
Late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel said Wednesday that he would not broadcast an interview he conducted with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico because of pressure from the Trump administration.
Late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel said Wednesday that he would not broadcast an interview he conducted with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico because of pressure from the Trump administration.
Kimmel did not specify what that pressure was but said the Federal Communications Commission had “threatened” him, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the ABC network, and ABC’s affiliate and local stations “based on simple traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings it would seem they don’t like.”
Kimmel also suggested the pressure was politically motivated. Polls show a close race between Talarico and his Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“They’re very nervous about the midterms, and rightly so. ... They’re in danger of losing a Senate seat in Texas, of all places,” Kimmel said on his show Wednesday.
ABC has been in a monthslong feud with the FCC and its chair, Trump appointee Brendan Carr. Last year, the FCC successfully pressured ABC to briefly suspend Kimmel because of comments he made about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In April, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump again called on ABC to punish Kimmel for a joke he made about the first lady. Shortly afterward, the FCC formally ordered an early review of the eight broadcast licenses owned by Disney — which include ABC stations in major cities such as New York and Philadelphia — because of concerns about diversity policies.
Last month, ABC sued the FCC, alleging that the commission’s early review of its broadcast licenses is unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Kimmel on Wednesday noted that he had interviewed several candidates for public office on his show in the past — including Trump himself when he was a presidential candidate in 2015 in 2016.
“And at that time, when he was the one sitting next to me, he seemed to have no problem with the idea of a talk-show host interviewing candidates. ... But for some reason — and I can’t seem to figure out what that reason is — something has changed,” Kimmel quipped.
Representatives for the FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Representatives with Disney, ABC’s parent company, declined to comment.
FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, the only Democrat on the commission, accused the Trump administration of waging a “campaign of censorship and control” and said the government agency does not have lawful authority to threaten broadcast licenses over guest bookings or editorial decisions.
“I urge broadcasters everywhere to keep resisting this pressure, and I hope courts will soon make clear that the FCC has no place dictating editorial choices or what viewers are allowed to see,” Gomez said in a statement Thursday.
Kimmel said he decided not to air his interview with Talarico during his broadcast in part so that ABC affiliates and local stations, especially those in Texas, would not “have to deal with this nonsense.” His interview with Talarico would instead be posted in its entirety on his YouTube channel on Thursday, he said.
“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,” he said.
