Jimmy Kimmel is keeping a sit-down with a Democratic Senate candidate off national television, a move the late-night host attributed to mounting pressure from federal regulators.
Kimmel said during his Wednesday night broadcast that his interview with James Talarico, a Texas state representative running for the U.S. Senate, will not air on ABC. It will instead be posted to YouTube on Thursday. He framed the decision as one made on behalf of the network’s affiliate stations, which he said would otherwise have to absorb scrutiny stemming from the interview.
Kimmel Points to a Changed Landscape
“For some reason, and I can’t seem to figure out what that reason is, something has changed,” Kimmel said, according to the CNBC report. He said that under President Donald Trump, the FCC has “threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations, based on simple, traditional editorial decisions.”
The host described the shift away from broadcast as “out of consideration” for affiliates he said would have to “deal with this nonsense.” He summed up the situation bluntly: “In the America we live in right now, that is the best we can do, until November, of course.”
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment, CNBC reported.
A Competitive Texas Race
Talarico is locked in a tight contest against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has Trump’s endorsement. Public polling has shown Talarico running slightly ahead of Paxton, a polarizing figure in Texas who was impeached by the state House over corruption allegations and later acquitted by the state Senate.
Kimmel noted that he has interviewed political candidates for years, including Trump himself. The decision to route the Talarico conversation to YouTube rather than the ABC airwaves reflects how carefully the show is now navigating a charged regulatory environment.
A Broader Regulatory Fight
The interview is the latest flashpoint in a running dispute over broadcasting rules and political speech. In January, the FCC raised questions about whether TV talk shows qualify as “bona fide” news programs — a designation that would exempt them from equal airtime requirements for political candidates. “The View,” another ABC program, has drawn similar scrutiny from the agency.
Kimmel’s show has become a recurring subject in debates over broadcasting rights, First Amendment protections and government involvement in programming decisions. Last year, ABC-affiliate station owners chose not to air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following comments he made in a monologue after the killing of Charlie Kirk. ABC suspended the show for roughly a week, and Kimmel later said, “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
Pressure from the Trump administration has continued since. In April, the FCC launched an early renewal process for ABC-owned stations, pointing to an investigation into the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices. ABC filed the license renewals, then in August sued the agency on First Amendment grounds, describing its investigation as a “retaliatory campaign.”
Against that backdrop, Kimmel’s choice to move a Senate candidate interview off broadcast television amounts to a practical accommodation — one that keeps the segment available to viewers online while sparing ABC’s local stations a fresh round of regulatory attention.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/10/abc-kimmel-talarico-fcc.html
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