James Talarico, the Texas Democratic Senate candidate, says the Trump administration is committing “the most dangerous form of cancel culture” by pressuring TV stations over their content. Talarico spoke out Thursday ahead of an interview with ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump. “Now that he’s president, his FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network,” and local stations, Kimmel said on Wednesday’s broadcast. Kimmel said the threats are “based on simple traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings, it would seem they don’t like.” As a result, Kimmel said, his planned interview with Talarico will stream only on YouTube, instead of airing on ABC. The White House hit back by accusing Kimmel of “play-acting” and pushing an “egocentric delusion.” But it’s pretty clear what’s going on. ABC is adjusting Kimmel’s program due to aggressive actions by Trump’s FCC, led by chairman Brendan Carr. The media regulator has targeted ABC and its parent company, Disney, in several ways. One method has involved an old rule known as “equal time,” which states that if one candidate for public office gets free airtime on a TV and radio station, the other qualified candidates for that office have an equal opportunity to airtime, too. In Talarico’s case, the other candidate is Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton. The FCC rule contains big exemptions for news coverage, and for the past two decades, that exemption has also been thought to apply to late-night and daytime talk shows. But Carr has been challenging those exemptions — particularly when they involve shows that feature anti-Trump perspectives. Earlier this year, the FCC opened a probe of ABC’s “The View” over an alleged equal time violation after Talarico appeared on that show during the Democratic primary. In apparent response to that probe, CBS told late-night host Stephen Colbert that he had to abide by the equal time rules, “something I have never been asked to do for an interview in the 21 years of this job,” he said. So Colbert moved his interview with Talarico to YouTube, too, and told his viewers all about the controversy. Kimmel took the same approach, announcing Wednesday night that he would move his Thursday interview to YouTube. “And thank goodness we have that,” he said, referring to YouTube, “because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do until November.” Kimmel opened the interview, which was posted to YouTube late Thursday evening, by reiterating why it wasn’t airing on ABC. “The FCC has threatened me or threatened my show, our network, even our local ABC stations because they want to make our editorial decisions for us, which of course we cannot accept,” he said. As of 10 a.m. ET Friday, the video had more than 1.9 million views. Kimmel’s first question to Talarico was, “Why are they so scared of you?” The pair then jumped into Talarico’s bid for the Senate, with no additional discussion of why the sit-down didn’t air on ABC’s stations. YouTube is not subject to FCC regulations because it does not utilize the public airwaves. Carr has argued that he is enforcing broadcast regulations because the airwaves are a scarce and unique resource. But many critics, including former FCC officials from both parties, have accused him of weaponizing the agency to reward Trump’s allies and punish his critics. “There is a pattern here that is clearly designed to get ABC and its programs to only provide content that this administration favours,” the FCC’s sole Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, said Thursday night on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.” Carr did not comment on Thursday. But a White House spokesperson defended him, telling CNN in a statement, “Chairman Carr has not threatened him regarding interviewing James Talarico, or any other candidate. Any media outlet blindly amplifying Kimmel’s egocentric delusion should insist on proof. Of which they will find none.” Speaking on MS NOW, Talarico called the government’s pressure “the most dangerous form of cancel culture.” “People at the top, powerful politicians, powerful media executives censoring what we watch, what we read, what we — what we say,” he said. “And that, again, should be a concern to everyone who believes in the First Amendment and believes in the freedom of speech.” This story has been updated with additional details. By Brian Stelter, CNN
