Jimmy Kimmel kept his Thursday night interview with James Talarico to YouTube, but that didn’t stop him from trolling the FCC on his ABC late night show with what he called an “exceptionally appropriate” round of ‘This Week in Unnecessary Censorship.’
“This is an unusual program for us because in a few minutes I’m going to interview James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas. But you’re not going to see it,” Kimmel recapped. “I mentioned last night, this interview will not be televised because of threats from the FCC led by Commissioner Brenda [sic] Carr, who says we do not have the right to interview whichever candidates we want to interview, which is something we’ve been doing for 20-plus years. We will instead post this interview on our YouTube channel.”
“This is yet another attack on free speech, something that has become all too familiar for us here at the show, for us in the country,” he added. “The FCC wants to make it impossible for me to interview candidates by requiring that I interview every candidate on the ballot who asks for equal time.”
“So not only would I have to interview James Talarico’s Republican opponent, Ken Paxton — which, by the way, I would love to do, call me. I’ll have many questions for you — our affiliates in Texas would have to give equal time to as many candidates as there are on the ballot. So there’s about 10 candidates on the ballot,” the host further noted. “But the White House, once again, is claiming that what I’m saying, which is clearly true, is not true.”
“The great news, if we could do this the easy way instead of the hard way, that would be terrific,” Kimmel concluded. “But first, I want to do something we’ve been doing for many, many years. It seems exceptionally appropriate tonight. I cannot think of a more fitting time for our weekly tribute to the FCC than this. It is time to bleep and blur the big TV moments, whether they need it or not. It is ‘This Week in Unnecessary Censorship.’”
Ahead of the episode, The White House insisted there was no threat and that the ABC late night host was creating a “false narrative” against the FCC.
“Jimmy Kimmel is play-acting — as he often does — to create a false narrative about this administration’s policies. Chairman Carr has not threatened him regarding interviewing James Talarico, or any other candidate,” Assistant White House Press Secretary Davis Ingle stated. “Any media outlet blindly amplifying Kimmel’s egocentric delusion should insist on proof. Of which they will find none.” Elsewhere in his monologue, the comedian shared his take on President Donald Trump offering $5,000 bribes to his voters, as well as the questionable crowd size of the RNC Midterm Convention.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs weeknights at 10:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
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