Kimmel: Trump/FCC Attacks on ABC Force Talarico Interview to YouTube

Posted in: ABC, TV, TV | Tagged: fcc, kimmel, opinion, talarico, trump

Kimmel: Trump/FCC Attacks on ABC Force Talarico Interview to YouTube

Jimmy Kimmel announced that his interview with James Talarico is moving to YouTube after attacks on ABC by Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr.

Published Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:37:11 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary

• Jimmy Kimmel says ABC won’t air his James Talarico interview after Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr targeted the network.
• Kimmel says FCC threats over a disputed equal-time claim pushed the Talarico segment off TV and onto YouTube instead.
• Kimmel urged viewers to watch the full James Talarico interview online, calling the midterms crucial in the current climate.
• ABC has sued Carr and the FCC, while Kimmel’s move echoes Stephen Colbert’s earlier Talarico YouTube workaround.

Stop us if you heard this one before. A late-night host plans on airing an interview with Texas State Representative James Talarico. Trump sics his FCC Chair, Brendan Carr, on the network and its parent company, ranting about an "equal time" rule that was never applied to talk shows before. As a result, the interview with Talarico does not air but is posted on YouTube. No, we're not talking about what went down with Stephen Colbert earlier this year; we're talking about what just happened to ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! host Jimmy Kimmel, who announced on Wednesday night that his interview with Talarico would not air on ABC tonight, and would be posted on the late-night talk show's YouTube channel.

"Now that he is president, 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," Kimmel shared with his audience, noting that Trump appeared twice on his show before being elected, with no calls coming from the FCC at the time that "equal time" should be in play. "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.

"So, if you want to learn about a candidate for the Senate tomorrow, you will have to go to the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel where you will see it in its entirety. 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, of course," Kimmel added, driving home the point that voting in the midterms is more important than ever. "Because that's the most important thing you can do." Meanwhile, Disney-owned ABC has filed a First Amendment lawsuit against Carr and the FCC, claiming the agency is doing Trump's political bidding by threatening the licenses of several ABC-owned stations and targeting The View with an "equal time" claim (Carr denies the accusations).

Before Kimmel: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert/CBS /FCC Timeline

"You know you know who is not one of my guests tonight? That's Texas State Representative James Talarico. 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. Then I was told in some uncertain terms that, not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn't want us to talk about this, let's talk about this," Colbert shared earlier this year.

The late-night host continued, calling out Carr's previous threats to re-evaluate daytime and late-night shows regarding the "equal time" rule. "So, you've you might have heard of this thing called the equal time rule. It's an old FCC rule that applies only to radio and broadcast television, not cable or streaming, that says if a show has a candidate on during an election, they have to have all that candidates' opponents on as well. It's the FCC's most time-honored rule, right after no nipples at the Super Bowl," he added, noting that there has "long been an exception for this rule" when it came to politicians appearing on talk shows.

"But on January 21st of this year, a letter was released by FCC chairman and smug bowling pin Brendan Carr. In this letter, Carr said he was thinking about dropping the exception for talk shows because he said some of them were motivated by partisan purposes. Well, sir, you're chairman of the FCC. So, FCCU, because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself, sir. Hey, you smelt it cuz you dealt it." Colbert continued, making the case that the White House "wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV because all Trump does is watch TV. He's like a toddler with too much screen time. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diapers. So, it's no surprise that two of the people most affected by this threat are me and my friend Jimmy Kimmel."

Before bringing his update on the show to a close, Colbert put the word out that the video would be available on the show's YouTube channel (which we have waiting for you below). From there, Colbert noted that Carr's concern about "equal time" and partisanship doesn't seem to apply to conservative broadcasters. "Carr here claims he's just getting partisanship off the airwaves, but the FCC, as I said, is also in charge of regulating radio broadcasts. And what would you know? Brendan Carr says right-wing talk radio isn't a target of the FCC's equal time notice." Colbert then showed an excerpt from a report noting that Carr wasn't looking into applying the "equal time" rule to right-wing radio stations. After a wave of boos from the audience, the late-night host added, "No, no, I get this part. It makes sense. You can't get rid of talk radio. What else would your angriest uncle do in traffic? Talk to your saddest aunt?" In addition, Colbert called out his bosses for pulling the interview, even though Carr hasn't made an official decision on the exemption from talk shows.

In the video below, the two discuss a number of issues raised during Talarico's campaign for the Democratic nomination for Senate – including the separation of church and state, fighting back against  Christian Nationalism, the dangers of consolidated corporate-owned media, and the "trumped up" culture wars being pushed by Republicans in states like Talarico's:

With "Why CBS Didn't Broadcast Stephen Colbert's Interview With James Talarico" and "Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas Legislature" scoring well over 9 million combined views on YouTube alone, CBS released a statement on Tuesday saying that the late-night talk show "was not prohibited" from broadcasting the interview, but it did offer "legal guidance" in how the interview could "trigger the FCC's equal-time rule" and what that could mean.

"'The Late Show' was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled. 'The Late Show' decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options."

After offering a brief recap of what went down over the past 24 hours, Colbert reminded everyone of Carr's comments from back in January during his response to CBS, when Carr noted that he was "thinking" about pulling the equal-time exemption from talk shows (adding, as we mentioned earlier, that Carr never made the official decision). The late-night host then hit at the network, saying that CBS was already doing it for the FCC. Colbert then shared that his folks couldn't find a single time prior to this week when the FCC enforced the equal-time rule on a talk show. Again, Colbert drove home the point that CBS, not the FCC, was choosing to enforce an equal-time rule. Not agreeing that they should be held to the rule, Colbert opted to have the video posted on YouTube instead.

The biggest headlines from Colbert's response were that he had no prior knowledge CBS would release the statement, especially since he was still working with the network on what could be said between Monday night's monologue and the follow-up segment. In addition, Colbert reminded viewers that he has had one of Talarico's opponents, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, on the late-night talk show twice – but Colbert couldn't show a picture of Crockett on the show out of fear of violating an equal-time rule that currently doesn't officially impact them.

"They know damn well that every word of my script last night was approved by CBS lawyers who, for the record, approve every script that goes on the air, whether it's about equal-time, or this image of frogs having sex," Colbert added, showing artwork of just that. "For the lawyers to release this without even talking to me is really surprising. I don't even know what to do with this crap." To drive home the point of how he felt about CBS's statement, Colbert treated the paper he was reading it off of like dog poop, wrapping it in a plastic bag, and throwing it away.

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