Another late-night talk show has pre-empted an interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico: This time, it’s ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
On Wednesday’s episode of “JKL,” Kimmel revealed that his interview with Talarico, who’s running for Senate as the Texas Democratic candidate, won’t be aired on the show’s over-the-air broadcast. Instead, it will be shown on YouTube.
Kimmel explained that the decision not to air Talarico’s interview on broadcast came out of concerns that a politically motivated FCC has continually threatened ABC station licenses.
“Out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas who would have to deal with this nonsense, my interview tomorrow with James Talarico will not air on television,” he said. “It will be posted on YouTube instead. It will not be on TV.”
In February, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” was also told it couldn’t run an interview with Talarico. At the time CBS lawyers had barred Colbert from airing the interview in a preemptive bow to FCC pressure over the agency’s push to apply its “equal time” rule to late-night talk shows. Ultimately, the Talarico campaign raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours after Colbert revealed he was barred from airing the interview, and the YouTube clip garnered 9.5 million views.
