Another big James Talarico interview is punted to YouTube due to FCC threats

Stevie Bonifield

is a news writer covering all things consumer tech. Stevie started out at Laptop Mag writing news and reviews on hardware, gaming, and AI.

Jimmy Kimmel will be interviewing Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico “under unusual circumstances,” posting the interview directly to YouTube, rather than airing it on TV during Jimmy Kimmel Live. In Wednesday night’s episode, Kimmel said this was out of concern for retaliation from the Trump administration’s FCC:

[Trump’s] 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. And so, 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 Talarico will not air on television. It will be posted on YouTube instead. It will not be on TV.

Kimmel’s announcement comes almost a year after his show was taken off the air in response to threats from FCC chair Brendan Carr. In February, Stephen Colbert also had to move an interview with Talarico to YouTube, claiming CBS barred him from airing it over worries about upsetting the FCC, citing the FCC’s equal time rule. The FCC also took aim at The View after an interview with Talarico earlier this year.

ABC, which airs Jimmy Kimmel Live and The View, filed a lawsuit against the FCC last month claiming it has “waged a retaliatory campaign” against its networks, “punishing” ABC by threatening to pull its broadcast licenses.

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Stevie Bonifield