Jimmy Kimmel releases James Talarico interview online as FCC dispute keeps it off ABC
Has moved his interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico off ABC and onto YouTube, saying regulatory pressure from the Fede...
Jimmy Kimmel has moved his interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico off ABC and onto YouTube, saying regulatory pressure from the Federal Communications Commission is keeping the segment off television. The interview is scheduled to be released online instead of airing on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
The decision lands at a sensitive moment for ABC and its affiliates. Kimmel said on his Wednesday broadcast that he had invited Talarico under “unusual circumstances,” after years of booking candidates on the show without trouble. He pointed to what he described as growing FCC intrusion over “equal time” rules for political candidates.
Political guests, but different rules now
Kimmel said he has spent more than two decades interviewing Americans running for office, and that the show has hosted a range of political figures over the years. He cited past interviews with Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, including two appearances by Trump while he was a candidate for president.
But Kimmel said the ground shifted after the Republican-led FCC declared in January that daytime and late-night talk shows are no longer treated as “bona fide” news programs exempt from equal time requirements. That position has raised fresh questions for entertainment hosts who have long mixed politics with comedy and conversation.
The Talarico interview now joins a growing list of political conversations pushed off broadcast television and into online distribution. Kimmel said the segment will appear on his YouTube channel instead.
Talarico race carries Senate stakes
Talarico is running in Texas against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in a contest that could help decide control of the U.S. Senate in November. That gives the interview a significance beyond late-night television: it is part campaign stop, part media fight.
The move also underlines how quickly the rules of political access can shift when regulators challenge old assumptions about what counts as news. For Kimmel, the message was blunt. The interview will happen. It just will not air on ABC.
The release on YouTube follows Kimmel’s warning that the FCC dispute has already altered what viewers will see from his show.
