Kimmel says interview with James Talarico won't air on TV under pressure
from the FCC
[September 11, 2026]
By JESSE BEDAYN
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said the agency that regulates television
“threatened” the show and that an interview with James Talarico, the
Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, will not air on
television but on YouTube — thus bypassing any control or regulation by
the Federal Communications Commission.
It's not the first time a TV show has moved an interview with Talarico
to YouTube. The candidate's appearance on Stephen Colbert's show in
February was moved online over network fears that it would violate
regulatory guidance from the Federal Communications Commission on giving
equal time to political candidates.
Talarico is in a tight race against Republican, Ken Paxton, the Texas
attorney general, and has given Democrats hope of winning statewide in
the otherwise GOP-dominated Lone Star State.
“For the whole 20+ years of our show, in fact, I’ve been interviewing
Americans who are running for office with no problem,” said Kimmel on
his Wednesday night show, the titular “Jimmy Kimmel Live."
“Something has changed,” he continued, suggesting that Trump's
presidency was that something. “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.”
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Anna
Gomez, the Commission's sole Democrat, said in a Thursday statement on
social media that Kimmel's decision to keep the interview off-air “shows
just how far this Administration’s campaign of censorship and control
has gone.”
Gomez condemned the latest “intimidation” from her agency — and added
that she hopes “courts will soon make clear that the FCC has no place
dictating editorial choices or what viewers are allowed to see.”
[to top of second column]
|
Jimmy Kimmel poses with the award for outstanding host for a game
show for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" during night one of the
Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Los
Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
 In August, in a further escalation
of its battle with the Trump administration, Disney-owned ABC sued
the FCC on First Amendment grounds, saying the agency’s demand for
early review of its broadcast licenses — years before they were set
to expire — posed an “existential threat” to the network.
The FCC had ordered the review months earlier, citing the network’s
diversity and inclusion practices as a reason, but the development
came shortly after a joke by Kimmel — a long-outspoken Trump critic
— had infuriated the president. In April, Trump and first lady
Melania Trump called for ABC to fire Kimmel over a joke where the
late-night comic described the first lady as having “the glow of an
expectant widow.”
Kimmel didn’t elaborate further Wednesday on what grounds the FCC
cited when the agency, as he put it, threatened the show over the
Talarico interview. In the past, including with Talarico on Stephen
Colbert's show, the contention has been over a requirement that
broadcast stations give equal time to political candidates when they
appear on-air.
The rule traditionally hasn't been applied to talk shows. But the
Trump administration, through the FCC, announced in January that
late-night and daytime hosts had to follow it.
___
AP business writer Wyatte Grantham-Philips in Chicago contributed to
this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
