What To Know
- FCC Chair Brendan Carr accused Texas Senate candidate James Talarico of orchestrating a “hoax” by claiming his interviews were moved online due to FCC pressure, like on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’
- The controversy centers on the equal-time rule, which Carr argues is being misapplied by talk shows that he claims favor Democrats.
- Despite the broadcast cancellation, Talarico’s interview with Kimmel went viral on YouTube.
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr claimed on X that James Talarico ran a “hoax” by appearing on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! for an interview that the talk show pushed to YouTube under FCC pressure.
And Carr said Talarico, a Texas Democrat running for U.S. Senate, did the same on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in February during its interview with Talarico.
“He’s just running the same hoax he did a few months ago on Colbert for the purpose of getting clicks and donations,” Carr said on X on Saturday. “He’s banking on people not understanding the statute or operating as partisan lemmings.”
The statute in question is the equal-time rule, which requires broadcast TV programs to give equal airtime to opposing political candidates unless they are “bona fide” news programs, as Variety explains. Historically, late-night and daytime talk shows have been exempted from that rule, but Carr has alleged that many broadcast talk shows favor Democrats, the magazine adds.
On Wednesday, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said his interview with Talarico would not air on ABC but be posted to YouTube instead. Kimmel said President Donald Trump and the FCC had threatened him, his show, the network, and local affiliates.
Talarico responded to that on-air interview cancellation during an appearance on MS NOW’s The Weeknight. “Government censorship should be a concern to all of us, regardless of our political party,” he said, per Deadline. “People at the top, powerful politicians, powerful media executives, censoring what we watch, what we read, what we say. And that, again, should be a concern to everyone who believes in the First Amendment and believes in the freedom of speech.”
But Kimmel’s conversation with Talarico went viral on YouTube, racking up 5 million views in its first 24 hours online, Variety reported separately on Friday night. As of the time of this writing, the upload has nearly 8 million views.