Late night host Jimmy Kimmel announced Wednesday that his interview with Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico will not air on the program due to his concerns with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Kimmel said the interview would instead be aired “under unusual circumstances” on YouTube for fear of violating the “equal time” rule, which requires broadcast networks and radio stations to give equal airtime opportunities to all candidates in an election.
“You know, for a lot of years, for the whole 20-plus years of our show, in fact, I’ve been interviewing Americans who are running for office with no problem at all, just like Letterman did, Leno did, Arsenio, etc. etc. I’ve interviewed a lot of political candidates. From Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz to Donald Trump,” Kimmel said on Wednesday.
“I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015, and 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. … But for some reason, and I can’t seem to figure out what that reason is, something has changed,” he added.
“Now that [Trump is] president, his FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates [and] our local stations based on simple traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings, it would seem, [that] they don’t like,” Kimmel said.
“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 … 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.”
This is not the first time Talarico has caused drama on late night. Former “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert threw a hissy fit in February when the FCC made moves to enforce the equal time rule, as The Daily Wire previously reported.
“There’s long been an exception for this rule, an exception for news interviews and talk show interviews with politicians,” Colbert said at the time. “That’s crucial.”
Like Kimmel, Colbert conducted the interview and aired it on YouTube instead.
This clash between Kimmel and the FCC comes amid speculation that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” may end next year. Page Six reported Tuesday that ABC does not plan to extend Kimmel’s contract after it expires in May 2027 and that the upcoming season of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is expected to be the show’s last, citing sources familiar with the situation.
“His contract is not getting extended,” one source told the outlet. ABC pushed back on the report, saying it has not made a decision about the show’s future.
“This information is inaccurate — any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative,” a network spokesman said.
Kimmel’s comments also come a year after he was punished for making false statements about the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk. The late night host also made a crass joke about first lady Melania Trump looking like an “expectant widow” just days before a gunman attempted to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ dinner.
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