Jimmy Kimmel will still sit down with Texas Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico on Thursday night. ABC viewers just will not see the conversation on television.
Kimmel announced during his September 9 monologue that the full interview will instead be released on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! YouTube channel. He described the arrangement as “unusual circumstances” and said the decision was made because of pressure he says the Federal Communications Commission has placed on ABC, his show and local stations, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The move leaves Talarico outside Thursday’s regular ABC broadcast. The network’s published lineup for September 10 lists Gal Gadot, David Chang and musical guest MUNA, while Kimmel said his conversation with Talarico will be available in full online.
Talarico has been through a similar situation already this year. Stephen Colbert interviewed him in February while he was seeking the Democratic Senate nomination, but the conversation was kept off The Late Show broadcast after CBS lawyers raised concerns about federal equal opportunities rules for political candidates.
Kimmel Says He Wanted to Protect ABC’s Texas Affiliates
Kimmel began by recalling the many political candidates he has interviewed during more than two decades on late-night television. His past guests have included Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, whom Kimmel interviewed while Trump was running for president in 2015 and again the following year.
Kimmel said the environment surrounding those bookings has changed. He accused the current FCC of threatening him, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, ABC and its affiliates over what he described as traditional editorial decisions and guest bookings.
His immediate concern, he said, was for local ABC stations in Texas, where Talarico is running against Republican nominee Ken Paxton. Kimmel said the show chose YouTube “out of consideration for our local stations,” particularly the Texas affiliates that could be affected by the regulatory dispute.
“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,” Kimmel told viewers. He said the interview would be posted there in its entirety.
The FCC Issued New Guidance for Late-Night Candidate Interviews
The concern centers on Section 315 of the Communications Act, which requires broadcast stations that give airtime to a legally qualified political candidate to provide comparable opportunities to opposing candidates. Federal law includes exemptions for certain bona fide newscasts, news interviews, documentaries and on-the-spot news coverage.
On January 21, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued guidance specifically addressing late-night and daytime television shows. The bureau said broadcasters should not assume that entertainment programs automatically qualify for the bona fide news interview exemption simply because similar programs have received exemptions in the past.
The FCC said the determination is made program by program and considers whether the show is regularly scheduled, whether the broadcaster or producer controls it, and whether decisions about guests and content are based on newsworthiness rather than an intention to help or hurt a candidate.
The regulatory fight has since expanded beyond individual interviews. Reuters reported in August that Disney and ABC sued the FCC to block early reviews of licenses for eight ABC-owned television stations. Disney accused the agency of retaliating against the network for programming and editorial decisions the Trump administration dislikes.
The FCC has rejected that characterization. It says the station reviews stem from an investigation into allegations that Disney’s diversity policies involved unlawful employment discrimination. The agency asked a federal judge earlier this month to dismiss Disney’s lawsuit.
Talarico’s Colbert Interview Also Ended Up on YouTube
Talarico faced almost the same broadcast problem in February during his Democratic primary campaign. Colbert told viewers that CBS lawyers had informed his team that an interview with Talarico could not appear on the television broadcast because of concerns about the FCC’s equal opportunities requirement.
Colbert recorded the interview anyway and released it on YouTube. CBS later disputed his description, saying its lawyers had provided legal guidance and offered ways for the program to meet potential equal opportunities obligations rather than simply prohibiting the interview.
Talarico subsequently won the Democratic nomination and is now running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate. Kimmel’s September 10 interview will follow Colbert’s online route, while ABC’s scheduled television broadcast remains centered on Gadot, Chang and MUNA.