Jimmy Kimmel to air Talarico interview on YouTube instead of ABC
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. ET and features a diverse lineup of guests that include celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. (P
Late-night television talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has made the decision to pull an interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico from network TV and air it on YouTube due to pressure from the Federal Communications Commission.
What we know:
Wednesday night, Kimmel suggested that the Trump administration was behind a threat the network received regarding the show’s content. "Now that he is president, his FCC 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 said on Wednesday's broadcast.
Big picture view:
Democrat James Talarico is facing Trump-backed Republican Ken Paxton in a closely watched Texas race for U.S. Senate. Talarico was scheduled to appear on ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" this week as the midterm election approaches.
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Why you should care:
At issue are federal equal-time rules for political candidates. The FCC has said daytime and late-night talk shows are no longer automatically considered "bona fide" news programs exempt from those requirements, potentially requiring broadcasters that feature one candidate to provide comparable opportunities to opponents.
The other side:
The FCC has not responded to requests for comments from either the Associated Press or Reuters, but Anna Gomez, the one Democrat on the Commission, argued that the threat was the latest intimidation tactic from the agency, saying it "shows just how far this Administration’s campaign of censorship and control has gone."
The backstory:
A long-outspoken critic of President Trump, Jimmy Kimmel and his self-titled show were again at odds with the current administration. In April, President Trump suggested ABC fire Kimmel after the airing of a monologue where the late-night host made a quip regarding Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered reviews of Disney’s eight company-owned ABC stations just a day after.
In February, Talarico had another interview moved off network television to YouTube. He was scheduled for an appearance on CBS’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert, but the network feared that it would violate regulatory guidelines from the FCC.
The Source: This story was written with information provided by The Associated Press and Reuters. This story was reported from Orlando.