NEW YORK — Jimmy Kimmel moved a planned interview with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico from ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to YouTube amid concerns over federal equal-time rules for political candidates.
Kimmel said Wednesday that the Trump administration had pressured ABC over the appearance and other editorial decisions involving his show.
“Now that he is president, his FCC 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 said during his broadcast.
Talarico, a Democrat, is challenging Trump-backed Republican Ken Paxton in the Texas race for U.S. Senate as the 2026 midterm elections approach.
The dispute centers on federal equal-time rules, which generally require broadcasters to provide comparable opportunities to opposing political candidates when one candidate receives qualifying broadcast exposure.
The FCC has said daytime and late-night talk shows do not automatically qualify as “bona fide” news programs exempt from those requirements. That position could require broadcasters to offer comparable opportunities to opponents when they feature political candidates.
The FCC had not responded to requests for comment from the Associated Press or Reuters at the time of the report.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the commission’s lone Democrat, criticized the agency’s actions and called the situation another intimidation tactic.
The dispute follows previous conflicts between Kimmel and the Trump administration.
In April, Trump suggested ABC fire Kimmel after the host made comments about Trump and first lady Melania Trump during his monologue. FCC Chair Brendan Carr then ordered reviews of Disney’s eight company-owned ABC stations.
Talarico also faced a similar situation in February when CBS moved his scheduled appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to YouTube because of concerns over FCC regulations.
