Sept. 11, 2026
Jimmy Kimmel Claims He Was Forced To Air Interview On YouTube After Alleged FCC Threats
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RSS Feed The war continues between the Trump Administration and Jimmy Kimmel. Hours ago, Kimmel ended up airing his interview with Texas Democrat James Talarico on YouTube, rather than on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after the late night host says the FCC threatened him, his show, and ABC. The White House fired back, saying Kimmel was “play-acting” and referenced Kimmel’s “egocentric delusion” insisting they never threatened anyone. This all comes weeks after ABC filed an against the FCC for what they call an unconstitutional retaliatory campaign against the network, forcing them to file for license renewals years ahead of schedule.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody.
00:00:03
Speaker 2: Looks like Jimmy Kimmel is back at war with the FCC and the Trump administration.
00:00:09
Speaker 1: But were they ever at peace?
00:00:11
Speaker 2: And once again, we're talking about a Democrat from Texas, a Senate candidate whose name has now continued to make national headlines, James Tallarico. Yes, Kimmel, forced to move his interview from his broadcast studio And with that, everyone, welcome to Amy and TJ. And look, this is just history repeating itself. And a lot of people have concerns that now a broadcast show, another late night show, is being pressured by the White House, by the Trump administration, to not air certain content that's concerning to a lot of folks and potentially, you know, Not in line with our Constitution, our free press.
00:01:01
Speaker 3: The concern is not pressure from the White House. The concern is that they cave to it.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: Okay?
00:01:10
Speaker 3: So, yes, I would prefer, we know what the president's going to do. We know how he goes about business. We know how Carr has gone about business. But, Robes, what do you do here? If you're preemptively making a move to make sure he doesn't come after you, he's scared the hell out of everybody. It's worked. It's worked.
00:01:27
Speaker 2: It has.
00:01:27
Speaker 3: The intimidation has worked, so move on. I mean, stand up to the man or don't at this point, Robes. We're recording this on September 11th. There's a low tolerance right now for this type of pettiness, at least in this studio.
00:01:44
Speaker 2: Right? I mean, this has gotten to a point where everyone is afraid to put certain content up, and if threatened, which Jimmy Kimmel says he was, says ABC was, then what do we do?
00:01:58
Speaker 1: Well, we'll just go put it on YouTube.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: Now, Kimmel just dropped this interview with James Tallarico on his YouTube channel. And as of this recording, and it's only been up for, I believe, eight hours, it already has 1.5 million views. So look, people are still seeing it. They're finding it out. But it's the point of it. The A show, a program cannot make its own decision about what to put on its air because they're afraid.
00:02:28
Speaker 1: Of the FCC. That's where we're at. And that's what's happening.
00:02:32
Speaker 3: Or we can just see this as another just a good PR move. When does when does have his ratings gone up when he's at war with the president? When does it make a big deal out of this? Oh, look. Look what they did to us. So now James Tallarico, we wouldn't be doing this, talking about James Tallarico, if that interview had aired on broadcast.
00:02:52
Speaker 2: This is the best thing, by the way, that's ever happened to James Tallarico because, A, this is a familiar scene.
00:02:58
Speaker 1: Think Stephen Colbert. Think The View.
00:03:00
Speaker 2: He has been at the center of so much of the controversy over this fair time play that the FCC is making that they're now trying to apply to talk shows.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: To late night shows.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: And look, to your point, if you look at Jimmy Kimmel's YouTube description, they are leaning in to this controversy.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: Yes, they get more ratings.
00:03:24
Speaker 2: Yes, Tallarico gets more interest and certainly more eyeballs on him.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: Name recognition is half the battle when it comes to running for office.
00:03:32
Speaker 3: And his name is Tallarico. He needs a little help. So he's getting it. Seriously, I can pronounce Tallarico now.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
00:03:39
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure how to say it beforehand. Now I know.
00:03:41
Speaker 2: I want to get your take on this description that Jimmy Kimmel put up under their YouTube episode. Jimmy's interview with Democratic Senate candidate from Texas, James Tallarico, was not televised because of threats from the FCC. So we're hosting their discussion here on YouTube. James talks about Republicans being scared of him winning. Jesus being co-opted by MAGA, the RNC convention being held in Texas, not taking money from corporate PACs, Trump calling him a freaky guy, and having second thoughts about endorsing his opponent, Ken Paxton, and the GOP making it harder for people to vote.
00:04:15
Speaker 1: They already have like tens of thousands of comments.
00:04:19
Speaker 2: They already have millions of views, and they're all rallying around this notion of free speech and censorship. Yes.
00:04:26
Speaker 3: Was there a direct threat? The way they put it, Because of threats. I mean, those threats have been coming constantly, right? For the past year, it seems. So he could just be saying.
00:04:36
Speaker 3: Was there a threat specifically about James Tallarico this time?
00:04:40
Speaker 1: So the White House says no. The White House spokesperson said this.
00:04:44
Speaker 3: Then that's the end of it. We take them at their word.
00:04:46
Speaker 1: Let's move on.
00:04:47
Speaker 3: Of course, of course.
00:04:48
Speaker 2: Here is what the White House said in direct reaction to Jimmy Kimmel's public declaration.
00:04:56
Speaker 1: Kimmel put it like this. I want to make sure I get his words right.
00:04:59
Speaker 2: He says, now that President Donald Trump is president, his FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations, based on simple, traditional editorial decisions, guests bookings that seems they don't like. He said, I've interviewed a lot of political candidates from Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz to Donald Trump himself. I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015. And at that time, when he was the one sitting next to me, he seemed to have no problem with the idea of talk show hosts interviewing candidates.
00:05:32
Speaker 3: I really don't even know what are we talking about. Robes, this has happened throughout, from the beginning of time. This is just, it's how it works. You're classified as something else, bona fide news program. You don't have these equal time rules. That's just how it goes. We get it. You can have a guest on a late night show who's running for office. We do it all the time. And you don't have to have the other guy from the other side. You can do it. It's a different, it's fine. They just don't like Robes. This is happening because Tallarico is about to do something potentially in Texas that will freak out the Republican establishment. And that is win a Senate seat in the great state of Texas.
00:06:14
Speaker 2: Which has been a Republican stronghold for a very long time.
00:06:19
Speaker 3: And the guy who would end up beating is the guy that Trump wanted. that he endorsed, Ken Paxton, who has problems, not like John Cornyn, right? Trump's pissed at Cornyn, get him out of there. So, all right, this is Trump's guy. He's got everything into Paxton. If he loses this, it's directly his fault.
00:06:36
Speaker 2: And so that's why the pressure is being applied. But the White House is denying doing that. And this is what their response was. Yes, this is so funny.
00:06:45
Speaker 3: Speak truth to me, baby.
00:06:46
Speaker 2: Go ahead. 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 Tallarico or any other candidate. Any media outlet blindly amplifying Kimmel's egocentric delusion should insist.
00:07:06
Speaker 1: On proof of which they will find none.
00:07:09
Speaker 3: All right.
00:07:10
Speaker 1: I will say Kimmel did not get specific.
00:07:13
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: He did not. He talked about the general threats.
00:07:16
Speaker 3: So it's a play. He's playing the media game.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Fine.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: I got no problem with that at all. I got no problem at all. It's a little, I mean, it's Jimmy Kimmel. Dude, build up your audience. Try to get people to watch. Yes, how many people have made careers out of going at it with this president? We can start naming people. So, yes, the president is good for business sometimes.
00:07:39
Speaker 1: That's right. And also, by the way, this all comes over the last couple of days. Have you seen it?
00:07:44
Speaker 2: Page Six reported this week that Kimmel's contract would not be renewed.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: You don't look at Page Six.
00:07:51
Speaker 2: But if you just Google Kimmel, as I was looking into the story, a bunch of headlines started popping up this week. Page Six reported that Jimmy Kimmel's contract will not be renewed.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: Of note, though.
00:08:02
Speaker 2: I was a little taken aback by ABC's response. Kimmel denies it, but this is exactly how ABC worded it.
00:08:09
Speaker 3: There's a couple of important words in here.
00:08:12
Speaker 2: This information is inaccurate. Any reports about the future of the store... Okay, I just screwed that up.
00:08:19
Speaker 3: Can I start over? Yeah, take it from the top.
00:08:21
Speaker 2: Let me start over. This information is inaccurate. Any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative. Yeah.
00:08:33
Speaker 3: We don't have our ducks in a row and don't have the complete plan together. So obviously, if we don't know for sure how it's all going to come out, then what you're reporting must be inaccurate. That's not denying, not saying, nope, that's not going to happen. Yes, ropes, we see the writing here in this statement.
00:08:52
Speaker 2: Babe, that's the clearest signal I've seen to date. The Jimmy Kimmel contract is not going to be renewed.
00:08:58
Speaker 3: Or they just want to give themselves the option. It hasn't been decided yet. Or maybe it has. It's on the table.
00:09:03
Speaker 1: Of course it is.
00:09:04
Speaker 3: But I think we knew that. His contract went through 2027 anyway, right?
00:09:07
Speaker 1: They only extended it for a year.
00:09:09
Speaker 2: And obviously, it was about a year ago, exactly a year ago, that he came back on the air after being suspended for a week. following comments after Charlie Kirk's assassination. And so, yes, there was incredible pressure to fire Kimmel, to get rid of him. Instead, they brought him back because there was a massive uproar, if you might remember, from folks who were, yes, saying free speech, censorship, all the same things that we're hearing now. And it got Kimmel back on the air and gave him a year-long extension. So perhaps with news that his contract might not be renewed and ABC not exactly fully supporting a renewed contract, this might be an opportunity for Kimmel to, again, get the public support rallying around him regarding censorship.
00:09:56
Speaker 3: There you go there, baby. Because he became a champion almost. a free speech even if you didn't like I mean he had some Republicans even even just you don't have to be a Kimmel fan he found an audience he found a thing and he became the champion right We'll see how long that lasts.
00:10:12
Speaker 2: Yes. And so when we come back, we're going to tell you what James Tallarico had to say because, of course, yes, he too capitalized on these headlines. And just to remind you, you know, ABC is the middle. They just filed a lawsuit against the FCC. So all of this is taking place in the background of a massive lawsuit. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. Yes, so Jimmy Kimmel making headlines, took his James Tallarico interview from his broadcast, put it onto YouTube. It's doing gangbusters as he promoted heavily that he was forced to do so because of threats by the FCC, threats that the FCC says.
00:11:02
Speaker 1: We never made. You're making this all up.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Still, James Tallarico making the rounds yesterday, taking advantage of all of this newfound publicity.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: Here's what he had to say.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: I think it's 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 say. And that, again, should be a concern to everyone who believes in the First Amendment and believes in the freedom of speech. And at this point, when he made these statements yesterday, he was still, he said, hopeful that ABC would air the interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live and not put it on YouTube. So he was holding out hope, he claimed. So he was putting ABC executives in that as well in terms of censorship because that was, I think it's fair to say, self-censorship.
00:11:54
Speaker 3: I mean, but is the rule now moving forward, you can no longer have a political candidate of all on the show? Or we just can't have one that's in a competitive race against somebody that the president wants to win? I mean, what is the rule now?
00:12:05
Speaker 1: That's the question.
00:12:06
Speaker 2: I mean, the FCC issued guidance after all of this with Colbert, with The View, because they were very upset with The View for having Tallarico on there.
00:12:14
Speaker 1: Here's the guidance.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: That daytime and late night shows do not have a blanket exemption from laws requiring stations to offer equal broadcast opportunities to political candidates. They are saying that they are bona fide stations. Yes, that they do need to have equal time. They do need to extend that. So The View, Colbert, well, he doesn't exist anymore in terms of his show, but Kimmel and any other late night show, they are saying has to provide equal time.
00:12:44
Speaker 3: So how close to election day do you have to be to be considered a candidate?
00:12:50
Speaker 1: That I don't know.
00:12:51
Speaker 3: Because Ted Cruz just has his bearded ass on The View. Absolutely. The other day. And I'm not saying that it is just speaking colloquially about him. It wasn't an indictment of him in any way.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: Right.
00:13:01
Speaker 3: I'm just saying he I'm just seeing I could see his bearded face sitting there. So what is he not because he's not currently running? Is that OK? Or because he's a Republican, we don't mind. Or was this them trying to get a Republican on because they're going to have a Democrat later? What is it?
00:13:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, it could have been any or all of the above because when all of this went on, and certainly the FCC claims they didn't threaten, claims they haven't done anything, but they did order Disney's eight local television stations owned and operated by ABC to file broadcast licenses for way earlier than they were supposed to. And a lot of people looked at that as retaliatory.
00:13:37
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:13:38
Speaker 2: And so yes, ABC last month in August has officially filed a lawsuit against the FCC and they are alleging an unconstitutional retaliatory campaign against their network.
00:13:52
Speaker 1: So it's so interesting. They filed this lawsuit. They claim this is unconstitutional.
00:13:57
Speaker 3: Sound like they're ready for a fight.
00:13:57
Speaker 1: They claim this is retaliatory.
00:13:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:14:00
Speaker 1: And yet Kimmel can't put Tallarico on his broadcast?
00:14:04
Speaker 3: It might have just been for ratings, maybe. It's possible. That's not an accusation. What I'm just saying, that should be on the table. It's a possibility. Maybe that's all this is and not that big of a deal. Or are they still running scared from this guy?
00:14:16
Speaker 1: Yes, those are the questions.
00:14:17
Speaker 2: Also, the FCC, by the way, doesn't claim at all that what they did by asking for these license renewals, it had nothing to do with Tallarico. It had nothing to do with Kimmel or with The View.
00:14:29
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no.
00:14:30
Speaker 2: They said they've been investigating Disney's alleged illegal DEI discrimination for more than a year, and they accused ABC and Disney of an ongoing campaign of disinformation. So this is just an absolute mess.
00:14:44
Speaker 3: The DEI, what?
00:14:46
Speaker 2: DEI discrimination, illegal DEI discrimination. They're claiming that that's why they've asked for the licenses to be renewed early because they are investigating DEI practices within Disney.
00:14:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay.
00:14:59
Speaker 3: Well, if FCC, you need any help, please call me up. I'll be willing to be interviewed for your investigation. I can certainly tell you there was not a DEI situation over there.
00:15:09
Speaker 1: Wait, you weren't given unfair illegal advantages?
00:15:12
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, dude. I was anti-DEI. That was during that period is when I was there. Trust me, they were on your team.
00:15:20
Speaker 2: That was then. I don't know what's going on now. But look, this is not going away.
00:15:26
Speaker 1: This continues.
00:15:27
Speaker 2: And it does give you just a bad taste in your mouth because you don't know who to trust, who to believe. Is this all just a big game.
00:15:34
Speaker 1: To get us watching?
00:15:35
Speaker 2: Possibly.
00:15:36
Speaker 3: And talking.
00:15:37
Speaker 1: And talking. And voting.
00:15:39
Speaker 2: But we all want, or at least it's accused that different parties want different candidates to benefit from all of this publicity. And maybe we're all, the viewers, just pawns in their larger game.
00:15:51
Speaker 3: Per usual.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: Per usual.
00:15:53
Speaker 2: All right. And with that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:15:59
Speaker 1: We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody.
00:00:03
Speaker 2: Looks like Jimmy Kimmel is back at war with the FCC and the Trump administration.
00:00:09
Speaker 1: But were they ever at peace?
00:00:11
Speaker 2: And once again, we're talking about a Democrat from Texas, a Senate candidate whose name has now continued to make national headlines, James Tallarico. Yes, Kimmel, forced to move his interview from his broadcast studio And with that, everyone, welcome to Amy and TJ. And look, this is just history repeating itself. And a lot of people have concerns that now a broadcast show, another late night show, is being pressured by the White House, by the Trump administration, to not air certain content that's concerning to a lot of folks and potentially, you know, Not in line with our Constitution, our free press.
00:01:01
Speaker 3: The concern is not pressure from the White House. The concern is that they cave to it.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: Okay?
00:01:10
Speaker 3: So, yes, I would prefer, we know what the president's going to do. We know how he goes about business. We know how Carr has gone about business. But, Robes, what do you do here? If you're preemptively making a move to make sure he doesn't come after you, he's scared the hell out of everybody. It's worked. It's worked.
00:01:27
Speaker 2: It has.
00:01:27
Speaker 3: The intimidation has worked, so move on. I mean, stand up to the man or don't at this point, Robes. We're recording this on September 11th. There's a low tolerance right now for this type of pettiness, at least in this studio.
00:01:44
Speaker 2: Right? I mean, this has gotten to a point where everyone is afraid to put certain content up, and if threatened, which Jimmy Kimmel says he was, says ABC was, then what do we do?
00:01:58
Speaker 1: Well, we'll just go put it on YouTube.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: Now, Kimmel just dropped this interview with James Tallarico on his YouTube channel. And as of this recording, and it's only been up for, I believe, eight hours, it already has 1.5 million views. So look, people are still seeing it. They're finding it out. But it's the point of it. The A show, a program cannot make its own decision about what to put on its air because they're afraid.
00:02:28
Speaker 1: Of the FCC. That's where we're at. And that's what's happening.
00:02:32
Speaker 3: Or we can just see this as another just a good PR move. When does when does have his ratings gone up when he's at war with the president? When does it make a big deal out of this? Oh, look. Look what they did to us. So now James Tallarico, we wouldn't be doing this, talking about James Tallarico, if that interview had aired on broadcast.
00:02:52
Speaker 2: This is the best thing, by the way, that's ever happened to James Tallarico because, A, this is a familiar scene.
00:02:58
Speaker 1: Think Stephen Colbert. Think The View.
00:03:00
Speaker 2: He has been at the center of so much of the controversy over this fair time play that the FCC is making that they're now trying to apply to talk shows.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: To late night shows.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: And look, to your point, if you look at Jimmy Kimmel's YouTube description, they are leaning in to this controversy.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: Yes, they get more ratings.
00:03:24
Speaker 2: Yes, Tallarico gets more interest and certainly more eyeballs on him.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: Name recognition is half the battle when it comes to running for office.
00:03:32
Speaker 3: And his name is Tallarico. He needs a little help. So he's getting it. Seriously, I can pronounce Tallarico now.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
00:03:39
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure how to say it beforehand. Now I know.
00:03:41
Speaker 2: I want to get your take on this description that Jimmy Kimmel put up under their YouTube episode. Jimmy's interview with Democratic Senate candidate from Texas, James Tallarico, was not televised because of threats from the FCC. So we're hosting their discussion here on YouTube. James talks about Republicans being scared of him winning. Jesus being co-opted by MAGA, the RNC convention being held in Texas, not taking money from corporate PACs, Trump calling him a freaky guy, and having second thoughts about endorsing his opponent, Ken Paxton, and the GOP making it harder for people to vote.
00:04:15
Speaker 1: They already have like tens of thousands of comments.
00:04:19
Speaker 2: They already have millions of views, and they're all rallying around this notion of free speech and censorship. Yes.
00:04:26
Speaker 3: Was there a direct threat? The way they put it, Because of threats. I mean, those threats have been coming constantly, right? For the past year, it seems. So he could just be saying.
00:04:36
Speaker 3: Was there a threat specifically about James Tallarico this time?
00:04:40
Speaker 1: So the White House says no. The White House spokesperson said this.
00:04:44
Speaker 3: Then that's the end of it. We take them at their word.
00:04:46
Speaker 1: Let's move on.
00:04:47
Speaker 3: Of course, of course.
00:04:48
Speaker 2: Here is what the White House said in direct reaction to Jimmy Kimmel's public declaration.
00:04:56
Speaker 1: Kimmel put it like this. I want to make sure I get his words right.
00:04:59
Speaker 2: He says, now that President Donald Trump is president, his FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations, based on simple, traditional editorial decisions, guests bookings that seems they don't like. He said, I've interviewed a lot of political candidates from Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz to Donald Trump himself. I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015. And at that time, when he was the one sitting next to me, he seemed to have no problem with the idea of talk show hosts interviewing candidates.
00:05:32
Speaker 3: I really don't even know what are we talking about. Robes, this has happened throughout, from the beginning of time. This is just, it's how it works. You're classified as something else, bona fide news program. You don't have these equal time rules. That's just how it goes. We get it. You can have a guest on a late night show who's running for office. We do it all the time. And you don't have to have the other guy from the other side. You can do it. It's a different, it's fine. They just don't like Robes. This is happening because Tallarico is about to do something potentially in Texas that will freak out the Republican establishment. And that is win a Senate seat in the great state of Texas.
00:06:14
Speaker 2: Which has been a Republican stronghold for a very long time.
00:06:19
Speaker 3: And the guy who would end up beating is the guy that Trump wanted. that he endorsed, Ken Paxton, who has problems, not like John Cornyn, right? Trump's pissed at Cornyn, get him out of there. So, all right, this is Trump's guy. He's got everything into Paxton. If he loses this, it's directly his fault.
00:06:36
Speaker 2: And so that's why the pressure is being applied. But the White House is denying doing that. And this is what their response was. Yes, this is so funny.
00:06:45
Speaker 3: Speak truth to me, baby.
00:06:46
Speaker 2: Go ahead. 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 Tallarico or any other candidate. Any media outlet blindly amplifying Kimmel's egocentric delusion should insist.
00:07:06
Speaker 1: On proof of which they will find none.
00:07:09
Speaker 3: All right.
00:07:10
Speaker 1: I will say Kimmel did not get specific.
00:07:13
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: He did not. He talked about the general threats.
00:07:16
Speaker 3: So it's a play. He's playing the media game.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Fine.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: I got no problem with that at all. I got no problem at all. It's a little, I mean, it's Jimmy Kimmel. Dude, build up your audience. Try to get people to watch. Yes, how many people have made careers out of going at it with this president? We can start naming people. So, yes, the president is good for business sometimes.
00:07:39
Speaker 1: That's right. And also, by the way, this all comes over the last couple of days. Have you seen it?
00:07:44
Speaker 2: Page Six reported this week that Kimmel's contract would not be renewed.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: You don't look at Page Six.
00:07:51
Speaker 2: But if you just Google Kimmel, as I was looking into the story, a bunch of headlines started popping up this week. Page Six reported that Jimmy Kimmel's contract will not be renewed.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: Of note, though.
00:08:02
Speaker 2: I was a little taken aback by ABC's response. Kimmel denies it, but this is exactly how ABC worded it.
00:08:09
Speaker 3: There's a couple of important words in here.
00:08:12
Speaker 2: This information is inaccurate. Any reports about the future of the store... Okay, I just screwed that up.
00:08:19
Speaker 3: Can I start over? Yeah, take it from the top.
00:08:21
Speaker 2: Let me start over. This information is inaccurate. Any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative. Yeah.
00:08:33
Speaker 3: We don't have our ducks in a row and don't have the complete plan together. So obviously, if we don't know for sure how it's all going to come out, then what you're reporting must be inaccurate. That's not denying, not saying, nope, that's not going to happen. Yes, ropes, we see the writing here in this statement.
00:08:52
Speaker 2: Babe, that's the clearest signal I've seen to date. The Jimmy Kimmel contract is not going to be renewed.
00:08:58
Speaker 3: Or they just want to give themselves the option. It hasn't been decided yet. Or maybe it has. It's on the table.
00:09:03
Speaker 1: Of course it is.
00:09:04
Speaker 3: But I think we knew that. His contract went through 2027 anyway, right?
00:09:07
Speaker 1: They only extended it for a year.
00:09:09
Speaker 2: And obviously, it was about a year ago, exactly a year ago, that he came back on the air after being suspended for a week. following comments after Charlie Kirk's assassination. And so, yes, there was incredible pressure to fire Kimmel, to get rid of him. Instead, they brought him back because there was a massive uproar, if you might remember, from folks who were, yes, saying free speech, censorship, all the same things that we're hearing now. And it got Kimmel back on the air and gave him a year-long extension. So perhaps with news that his contract might not be renewed and ABC not exactly fully supporting a renewed contract, this might be an opportunity for Kimmel to, again, get the public support rallying around him regarding censorship.
00:09:56
Speaker 3: There you go there, baby. Because he became a champion almost. a free speech even if you didn't like I mean he had some Republicans even even just you don't have to be a Kimmel fan he found an audience he found a thing and he became the champion right We'll see how long that lasts.
00:10:12
Speaker 2: Yes. And so when we come back, we're going to tell you what James Tallarico had to say because, of course, yes, he too capitalized on these headlines. And just to remind you, you know, ABC is the middle. They just filed a lawsuit against the FCC. So all of this is taking place in the background of a massive lawsuit. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. Yes, so Jimmy Kimmel making headlines, took his James Tallarico interview from his broadcast, put it onto YouTube. It's doing gangbusters as he promoted heavily that he was forced to do so because of threats by the FCC, threats that the FCC says.
00:11:02
Speaker 1: We never made. You're making this all up.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Still, James Tallarico making the rounds yesterday, taking advantage of all of this newfound publicity.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: Here's what he had to say.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: I think it's 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 say. And that, again, should be a concern to everyone who believes in the First Amendment and believes in the freedom of speech. And at this point, when he made these statements yesterday, he was still, he said, hopeful that ABC would air the interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live and not put it on YouTube. So he was holding out hope, he claimed. So he was putting ABC executives in that as well in terms of censorship because that was, I think it's fair to say, self-censorship.
00:11:54
Speaker 3: I mean, but is the rule now moving forward, you can no longer have a political candidate of all on the show? Or we just can't have one that's in a competitive race against somebody that the president wants to win? I mean, what is the rule now?
00:12:05
Speaker 1: That's the question.
00:12:06
Speaker 2: I mean, the FCC issued guidance after all of this with Colbert, with The View, because they were very upset with The View for having Tallarico on there.
00:12:14
Speaker 1: Here's the guidance.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: That daytime and late night shows do not have a blanket exemption from laws requiring stations to offer equal broadcast opportunities to political candidates. They are saying that they are bona fide stations. Yes, that they do need to have equal time. They do need to extend that. So The View, Colbert, well, he doesn't exist anymore in terms of his show, but Kimmel and any other late night show, they are saying has to provide equal time.
00:12:44
Speaker 3: So how close to election day do you have to be to be considered a candidate?
00:12:50
Speaker 1: That I don't know.
00:12:51
Speaker 3: Because Ted Cruz just has his bearded ass on The View. Absolutely. The other day. And I'm not saying that it is just speaking colloquially about him. It wasn't an indictment of him in any way.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: Right.
00:13:01
Speaker 3: I'm just saying he I'm just seeing I could see his bearded face sitting there. So what is he not because he's not currently running? Is that OK? Or because he's a Republican, we don't mind. Or was this them trying to get a Republican on because they're going to have a Democrat later? What is it?
00:13:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, it could have been any or all of the above because when all of this went on, and certainly the FCC claims they didn't threaten, claims they haven't done anything, but they did order Disney's eight local television stations owned and operated by ABC to file broadcast licenses for way earlier than they were supposed to. And a lot of people looked at that as retaliatory.
00:13:37
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:13:38
Speaker 2: And so yes, ABC last month in August has officially filed a lawsuit against the FCC and they are alleging an unconstitutional retaliatory campaign against their network.
00:13:52
Speaker 1: So it's so interesting. They filed this lawsuit. They claim this is unconstitutional.
00:13:57
Speaker 3: Sound like they're ready for a fight.
00:13:57
Speaker 1: They claim this is retaliatory.
00:13:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:14:00
Speaker 1: And yet Kimmel can't put Tallarico on his broadcast?
00:14:04
Speaker 3: It might have just been for ratings, maybe. It's possible. That's not an accusation. What I'm just saying, that should be on the table. It's a possibility. Maybe that's all this is and not that big of a deal. Or are they still running scared from this guy?
00:14:16
Speaker 1: Yes, those are the questions.
00:14:17
Speaker 2: Also, the FCC, by the way, doesn't claim at all that what they did by asking for these license renewals, it had nothing to do with Tallarico. It had nothing to do with Kimmel or with The View.
00:14:29
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no.
00:14:30
Speaker 2: They said they've been investigating Disney's alleged illegal DEI discrimination for more than a year, and they accused ABC and Disney of an ongoing campaign of disinformation. So this is just an absolute mess.
00:14:44
Speaker 3: The DEI, what?
00:14:46
Speaker 2: DEI discrimination, illegal DEI discrimination. They're claiming that that's why they've asked for the licenses to be renewed early because they are investigating DEI practices within Disney.
00:14:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay.
00:14:59
Speaker 3: Well, if FCC, you need any help, please call me up. I'll be willing to be interviewed for your investigation. I can certainly tell you there was not a DEI situation over there.
00:15:09
Speaker 1: Wait, you weren't given unfair illegal advantages?
00:15:12
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, dude. I was anti-DEI. That was during that period is when I was there. Trust me, they were on your team.
00:15:20
Speaker 2: That was then. I don't know what's going on now. But look, this is not going away.
00:15:26
Speaker 1: This continues.
00:15:27
Speaker 2: And it does give you just a bad taste in your mouth because you don't know who to trust, who to believe. Is this all just a big game.
00:15:34
Speaker 1: To get us watching?
00:15:35
Speaker 2: Possibly.
00:15:36
Speaker 3: And talking.
00:15:37
Speaker 1: And talking. And voting.
00:15:39
Speaker 2: But we all want, or at least it's accused that different parties want different candidates to benefit from all of this publicity. And maybe we're all, the viewers, just pawns in their larger game.
00:15:51
Speaker 3: Per usual.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: Per usual.
00:15:53
Speaker 2: All right. And with that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:15:59
Speaker 1: We'll talk soon.