Jimmy Kimmel announced Wednesday night that his show would not air his upcoming interview with Texas’ Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on television, citing the Trump administration’s threats against ABC.
Kimmel said that during President Donald Trump’s administration, the Federal Communications Commission “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 Talarico will not air on television,” he said.
The interview, set for Thursday, will be posted on the YouTube channel for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” instead, he said. Talarico, a Democratic state representative in Texas, is locked in a competitive Senate race with Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The Talarico campaign and the FCC did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment. ABC Entertainment declined to comment.
During an interview with MS NOW that aired Thursday evening, Talarico said “absolutely” when asked whether he thought he was being censored.
“I think it’s the most dangerous form of cancel culture. People at the top, powerful politicians, powerful media executives, censoring what we watch, what we read, what we what we say, and that again should be a concern to everyone who believes in the First Amendment and believes in the freedom of speech,” Talarico said, adding that he was “still hopeful” ABC would air the interview.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, condemned “FCC intimidation” in a statement reacting to Kimmel’s announcement.
“No host, local affiliate, or network should have to weigh federal retaliation before booking a guest for a newsworthy interview,” Gomez said in the statement. “Any attempt to pressure broadcasters into self-censorship undermines both press freedom and the public’s right to hear from candidates in their communities seeking public office.”
Kimmel’s announcement marks the latest apparent instance in which pressure from the administration has affected content aired on an entertainment show. Stephen Colbert said in February that CBS did not air his interview with Talarico out of fear of the FCC.
“He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” Colbert said at the time.
CBS said in a February statement that “the show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates.”
Trump has publicly targeted Kimmel in the past, calling multiple times for the comedian to be fired.
About a year ago, ABC pulled Kimmel’s show following the comedian’s comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September of last year. The show returned nearly a week later, and Kimmel said in his monologue that “it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
The FCC, under Chairman Brendan Carr, announced in April that Disney’s eight local television stations owned and operated by ABC needed to file broadcast license renewals early. The Walt Disney Co. sued over the decision last month.
In January, the FCC issued a memo saying that late-night and daytime talk shows must adhere to the equal time rule, which requires broadcasters to offer equal opportunities to other qualified candidates who are running for the same office. The memo marked a change in the FCC’s position. Twenty years earlier, a decision found that late-night and daytime talk shows were exempt from the rule.
Kimmel interviewed Trump himself in 2015, when he was running for president. Kimmel recalled the interview on his show Wednesday.
“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,” he said. “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,” he said, tongue in cheek.
