Jimmy Kimmel has claimed that he and his show have been “threatened” by the FCC with dire consequences if they air an interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Kimmel announced the move during his Wednesday night monologue, talking us through the intense pressure behind the scenes regarding Talarico.
The talk-show host struck an ominous tone as he pointed out, “For a lot of years, for the whole 20-plus years of our show, in fact, I’ve been interviewing Americans who are running for office with no problem at all.” He said he’s had no issues interviewing everyone “from Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz, to Donald Trump himself.”
As Kimmel explained: “I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015, and at that time when he was the one sitting next to me he had no problem with the idea of talk show hosts interviewing candidates. In fact, he was very eager to come back for another interview.” But, as per Kimmel, “something has changed.”
“Threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network”
He said: “Now that he’s president, his FCC has 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 specifically underlines the danger to local stations, particularly ABC affiliates in Texas “who would have to deal with this nonsense.”
Kimmel concluded that airing the interview on YouTube is the only option, “because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do. Until November of course. Register to vote by the way.”
This isn’t the first time Talarico has faced hurdles being interviewed on primetime TV. In February, he was due to appear on The Late Show for an appearance with Stephen Colbert, though this was blocked. As per Colbert, “We were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast. Then I was told in some uncertain terms that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on.” The show aired the interview on social media.
Talarico hasn’t commented on the Jimmy Kimmel situation, though in February said on X that he believed the true reason behind the Colbert interview pressure was that “Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas.” He also noted that these moves have given his campaign a welcome financial boost, pointing out, “Our campaign raised $2.5 million in 24 hours after the FCC banned our Colbert interview.”
Published: Sep 10, 2026 03:29 am