The video is titled \u201cJimmy Kimmel\u2019s Interview With James Talarico That the FCC Doesn\u2019t Want You to See.\u201d <\/p>\n
It was posted Thursday night on the \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u2019s\u201d YouTube page<\/a>. By 10 a.m. Friday, the video had gained more than 2.7 million views \u2014 and the interview hadn\u2019t aired on the show\u2019s network, ABC.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 We are being targeted by the FCC for the crime of interviewing political candidates,\u201d Kimmel says in the YouTube clip. \u201cEven though for years we, and every other late-night talk show, have welcomed numerous candidates, including Donald Trump when he was running. He was on this show two times. [Trump\u2019s] FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations, because they want to make our editorial decisions for us, which of course, we cannot accept.\u201d<\/p>\n The host continued: \u201cTonight we are bypassing the public airwaves and hosting this interview on YouTube, even though our government would clearly prefer we not do it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n The late-night host<\/a> moved his interview with the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas online to sidestep new Federal Communications Commission policy regulations.<\/p>\n Kimmel said earlier in the week that the FCC had \u201cthreatened\u201d his show. <\/p>\n \u201cFor the whole 20-plus years of our show, in fact, I\u2019ve been interviewing Americans who are running for office with no problem,\u201d Kimmel said during Wednesday\u2019s ABC broadcast<\/a>. \u201cSomething has changed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n The change Kimmel was referring to involves the Communications Act\u2019s \u201cequal opportunities\u201d requirement. It states that if a broadcast station features a qualified political candidate, it must provide equal airtime to an opposing candidate. Daytime and late-night talk shows have long operated under a \u201cbona fide news program\u201d exemption that shielded them from the equal time rule. <\/p>\n But under new guidance from the FCC Media Bureau<\/a>, which is overseen by Donald Trump appointee Brendan Carr, talk shows may no longer qualify for the news exemption if their candidate interviews are determined to be motivated by partisan purposes.<\/p>\n In short, political bias is in the eye of the FCC beholder, and it has been focused on shows like \u201cKimmel Live!\u201d and \u201cThe View,\u201d<\/a> which voice criticism of the president. The FCC has ordered early license reviews for several Disney-owned ABC stations. ABC has accused the Trump administration of trying to chill free speech.<\/p>\n FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who is the commission\u2019s only Democrat, said Thursday in a statement that Kimmel\u2019s choice to move Talarico\u2019s interview to YouTube \u201cshows just how far this Administration\u2019s campaign of censorship and control has gone.\u201d<\/p>\n