Kimmel, Copying Colbert, Says He Will Post Talarico Interview on YouTube for Fear of FCC Action

ABC’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, says he will post an interview with the Texas Democratic Senate candidate, James Talarico, on YouTube — and not air it on his show — out of fear that the Federal Communications Commission will take action against his network if it airs the interview on TV. The decision to post the Talarico interview on YouTube mirrors a decision by CBS’s former late-night host, Stephen Colbert, who in February claimed his network prevented him from airing his interview with the Texas Democrat due to concerns that the FCC would investigate the network over an equal time rule violation. CBS has disputed that allegation. The FCC is investigating ABC’s daytime talk show, “The View,” over an alleged equal time violation over a February interview with Mr. Talarico. The equal time rule says that broadcast networks that give political candidates access to the platforms must give their legally filed opponents the opportunity to appear on the network, even on a different program. “The View,” which claims to be a news program and therefore exempt from the rule, did not give Mr. Talarico’s primary opponent, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, an interview shortly before or after his appearance — though she had appeared on the show prior to the height of the primary campaign. On Wednesday, Mr. Kimmel said he plans to interview Mr. Talarico, who is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. However, the late-night host said the interview will only be available on YouTube. “I’ll be interviewing James Talarico tomorrow night under unusual circumstances. You know, 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,” Mr. Kimmel said. “I’ve interviewed a lot of political candidates from Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz to Donald Trump himself. I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015.”Mr. Kimmel said that President Trump was “very eager to come back for another interview” but “something has changed.”“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,” he said.Mr. Kimmel said that out of “consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas, who would have to deal with this nonsense,” the interview will only be available on YouTube.“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,” Mr. Kimmel said. “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.”Late-night and daytime talk shows have long been seen as exempt from the FCC’s equal time rule, and have often booked Democrats or guests who are critical of Mr. Trump. However, in January, the FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, said he is exploring whether those programs actually qualify for an exemption. In February, Mr. Colbert claimed CBS informed him that he could not air his interview with Mr. Talarico. That claim led to a wave of criticism of the FCC and a surge in donations to Mr. Talarico, who claimed he was “banned” from the airwaves by the Trump administration. He subsequently raked in $2.5 million in 24 hours. CBS later released a statement denying that it told Mr. Colbert that he could not air the interview. The network said it simply provided guidance that he should provide Ms. Crockett time on his show to avoid triggering the equal time rule. The FCC has subjected ABC, and Mr. Kimmel, to heightened scrutiny. Beyond its investigation into “The View,” the agency directed eight ABC-owned stations to submit applications to renew their broadcast licenses early. In April, Mr. Carr said he started the early renewal process because ABC’s parent company, the Walt Disney Company, did not provide sufficient documents in response to the FCC’s investigation into its DEI practices. However, critics noted that the order came after Mr. Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, called for ABC to fire Mr. Kimmel over what turned out to be an ill-timed joke about the first lady having a glow like an “expectant widow.” The comment was made just days before a gunman attempted to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Prosecutors say the gunman aimed to kill Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump has repeatedly called for ABC to fire Mr. Kimmel, and for the FCC to revoke the network’s broadcast license over its news coverage. ABC sued the FCC last month, arguing that the early license renewal process was retaliatory.

Kimmel, Copying Colbert, Says He Will Post Talarico Interview on YouTube for Fear of FCC Action

Kimmel, Copying Colbert, Says He Will Post Talarico Interview on YouTube for Fear of FCC Action

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