Jimmy Kimmel has shifted his interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico from ABC to the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” YouTube channel after facing threats from the Federal Communications Commission over editorial decisions.
The late-night host accused the administration of using federal authority to interfere with his show’s programming choices since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
“I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015,” Kimmel stated, emphasizing that he has conducted interviews with a range of political candidates without issue, including Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz.
“But for some reason, and I can’t seem to figure out what that reason is, something has changed now that he is president,” Kimmel continued on Wednesday.
Kimmel explained that the interview would not air on ABC but instead be posted online to avoid putting ABC affiliates in a position where they might have to provide comparable airtime to James Talarico’s Republican opponent, Ken Paxton. The Federal Communications Commission has long-standing rules requiring broadcasters that air one legally qualified political candidate to offer equal opportunities to opposing candidates. The law includes exceptions for bona fide newscasts and news interviews, but the FCC recently warned that late-night talk shows should not assume they qualify for such exemptions.
The agency noted that these exemptions are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and depend on whether guest selections are based on newsworthiness rather than political bias. Kimmel said he would post the interview on YouTube “out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas” to prevent potential compliance issues. The FCC’s equal-opportunities rules apply only to broadcast television, not online platforms like YouTube.
Some commentators have described Kimmel’s decision as “censorship,” though he did not use the term.
