{"id":843863,"date":"2026-09-11T07:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T07:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843863\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T07:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T07:32:09","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-posts-james-talarico-interview-calls-out-trump-and-fcc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843863\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel Posts James Talarico Interview, Calls Out Trump And FCC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJimmy Kimmel<\/a>\u2018s interview with James Talarico<\/a> was posted to YouTube on Thursday evening rather than the late-night host\u2019s ABC broadcast amid concerns over an FCC<\/a> enforcement action.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhy are they so scared of you?\u201d Kimmel asked Talarico at the outset of the 20 minute interview, noting that Stephen Colbert also posted a sit down with the Texas U.S. Senate candidate in February over concerns it would invoke the the rule.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey are worried that we\u2019re going to win this race in Texas,\u201d Talarico said. \u201cBut we are the underdogs until the last vote is counted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor decades, daytime and late night TV talk shows have operated on the assumption that they were exempt from the FCC\u2019s equal time rule, which requires broadcasters who feature candidates to provide comparable time to their rivals, if it is requested.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in January, the FCC under chairman Brendan Carr<\/a>, appointed by Donald Trump<\/a>, issued guidance to broadcasters that TV talk shows may not be exempt, a move that critics saw as a regulatory effort to crackdown on daytime and late-night hosts the president does not like. Weeks later, the FCC started an investigation of The View after it featured Talarico as a guest. The equal time rule includes an exemption for news coverage and news interviews.<\/p>\n

\n\tABC has pushed back against the FCC\u2019s actions, releasing a 2002 letter from the FCC affirming that The View was exempt. The network also has argued that the FCC is selectively enforcing the rule, as its January guidance did not address talk radio, where conservative hosts routinely feature political candidates, including Talarico\u2019s Republican opponent, Ken Paxton.<\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel opened his interview by noting that, until recently, the FCC has long recognized that late-night talk shows have been exempt, pointing to Donald Trump\u2019s guest spots. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen he was running, he was on the show two times, but now I guess he doesn\u2019t like me anymore, or the First Amendment, and so the FCC has threatened me or threaten my show, our network, even our local ABC stations, because they want to make our editorial decisions for us, which of course we cannot accept,\u201d Kimmel said. \u201cAnd so tonight we\u2019re bypassing the public airwaves and hosting this YouTube interview on YouTube, even though our government would clearly prefer that we not do it at all.\u201d The FCC does not regulate streaming platforms. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement<\/a> earlier on Thursday, a White House spokesman claimed that Kimmel was creating \u201ca false narrative about this administration\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cChairman Carr has not threatened him regarding interviewing James Talarico, or any other candidate,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\n\tCarr has not commented, but previously said that the TV talk shows are free to feature political candidates, but they may be on the hook to offer time to their competitors. He also suggested that the Colbert interview was a publicity stunt designed to drive up fundraising for Talarico.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his monologue<\/a> on the Jimmy Kimmel Live<\/a> TV broadcast, Kimmel challenged the White House\u2019s statement. He told the audience that he would be interviewing Talarico but viewers would not see it. He called the threat of FCC action \u201cyet another attack on free speech, something that is all too familiar for the show for us.\u201d Kimmel also said that he would \u201clove\u201d to interview Paxton, but the rule would not just apply to Talarico\u2019s GOP rival. \u201cOur affiliates in Texas would have to give equal time to as many candidates as there are on the ballot. There\u2019s about 10 candidates on the ballot,\u201d Kimmel said. ABC\u2019s legal team has argued that offering all candidates such time is untenable.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe interview was otherwise a pretty standard sitdown for Talarico, giving him the opportunity to repeat some of his campaign themes, including how his life has been shaped by religion and Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n

\n\tIt was also clear that Kimmel was a fan of Talarico, and he even ran a portion of one of his campaign ads.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe said, \u201cI\u2019ve been following you for a long time. I\u2019ve been watching your videos. I think what you\u2019re doing is great. I really do. \u2026 You hit on something that used to be on all of the bumper stickers. \u2018What would Jesus do?\u2019 I think Jesus has been co-opted by this MAGA enterprise in this way. It makes no sense when you really think about it. Would Jesus be throwing people into vans and separating them from their children? Would Jesus be taking kids off food stamps? \u2026 This is not the Jesus that I learned about growing up. And you bring it right back to the Bible, to the real teachings of Jesus, and it is it is very authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf the past is any guide, the Kimmel interview may ultimately draw more attention that Talarico would have gotten via a standard broadcast. His interview with Colbert has drawn 9.5 million views on YouTube, far more than the show\u2019s average.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel\u2018s interview with James Talarico was posted to YouTube on Thursday evening rather than the late-night host\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[17105,12,5109,88,3092,69123,17114,11575,92],"class_list":["post-843863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-brendan-carr","tag-donald-trump","tag-electionline","tag-entertainment","tag-fcc","tag-james-talarico","tag-jimmy-kimmel","tag-jimmy-kimmel-live","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}