ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel says Senate candidate interview will not air on network

Jimmy Kimmel, winner of the award for best talk show for "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," poses in the press room during the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, at The Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

WASHINGTON- ABC late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel said an interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico Thursday will air on YouTube and not during the network broadcast, citing threats from the Federal Communications Commission.

In January, the Republican-led FCC said that daytime and late-night TV talk shows are no longer considered “bona fide” news programs that are exempt from equal time rules that require them to give airtime to views of opposing candidates.

Kimmel noted that for decades talk shows have been free to interview political candidates without being subject to those rules.

Talarico is running in Texas against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in a race that could decide control of the U.S. Senate in November.

Kimmel noted that he had previously interviewed U.S. President Donald Trump as a candidate in 2016.

“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 on Wednesday’s broadcast.

ABC declined to comment. The FCC did not immediately comment.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama