Jimmy Kimmel moves interview with James Talarico to YouTube
Host cites FCC pressure, while ABC parent Disney disputes regulator's actions
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Jimmy Kimmel moves interview with James Talarico to YouTube
Photograph: IBTimes UK (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Jimmy Kimmel stated his interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico will be posted on YouTube instead of airing on ABC.
- Kimmel attributed the decision to pressure from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which he said has threatened ABC and its affiliates.
- The Talarico campaign raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours after a similar interview with Stephen Colbert was barred from airing.
- ABC's parent company, Disney, is contesting the FCC's early renewal process for eight ABC-owned stations, alleging retaliation.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 9 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
76/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
30/100
9 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
Only 1 of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Jimmy Kimmel announced that an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico would not be broadcast on ABC. Instead, the conversation will be released on YouTube. Kimmel stated that the decision was made due to pressure from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and threats to ABC and its local stations.
This move follows a similar situation in February when Stephen Colbert was prevented from airing an interview with Talarico. According to Variety, the Talarico campaign raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours after Colbert announced he could not air the interview, and the YouTube clip subsequently received 9.5 million views. Kimmel noted that political candidates have appeared on late-night shows for years, including his own interview with Donald Trump in 2015 while Trump was campaigning.
The situation is occurring while ABC's parent company, Disney, is engaged in a dispute with the FCC. In April, the FCC ordered an early renewal process for eight ABC-owned television stations. Disney has contested this, filing a lawsuit that alleges the FCC's actions constitute retaliation and infringe on its First Amendment rights. The FCC disputes these claims, stating the review is a legitimate regulatory process.
Disagreement on FCC's specific action
IBTimes reported that there is no indication the FCC issued a specific order prohibiting ABC from airing the Kimmel-Talarico interview, and that the decision to move it online should not be described as a direct FCC order. Variety stated that Kimmel explained the decision came out of concerns that a politically motivated FCC has continually threatened ABC station licenses.
What the coverage left out
None of the left-rated reports mention the FCC's claim that the review of ABC stations is a legitimate regulatory process involving issues including alleged unlawful discrimination and whether stations are meeting their public-interest obligations. The reports also do not include the FCC's request to a federal judge to dismiss Disney's lawsuit.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 10 Sept 2026, 08:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
6 rated outlets
- Left-rated reports focused on Jimmy Kimmel's assertion that the FCC, under the Trump administration, has threatened ABC and its affiliates, leading to the decision to move the Talarico interview to YouTube. These reports highlighted Kimmel's view that this represents a change in the environment for political programming on broadcast television. The financial success of the Talarico campaign following the Stephen Colbert interview's removal was also noted by Variety and Deadline. IBTimes and Rolling Stone also mentioned the FCC's formal order for an early renewal process for eight ABC-owned stations in April, which Disney is contesting.
Centre
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated centre has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Right
1 rated outlet
We have not written our reading of the right coverage of this story. The right-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Jimmy Kimmel moves interview with James Talarico to YouTube?
- Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 86% are rated left, 0% are rated centre, 14% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 9. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Jimmy Kimmel moves interview with James Talarico to YouTube left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Jimmy Kimmel moves interview with James Talarico to YouTube biased?
- Jimmy Kimmel moves interview with James Talarico to YouTube is one event reported by 9 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Jimmy Kimmel moves interview with James Talarico to YouTube?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Jimmy Kimmel moves interview with James Talarico to YouTube?
- 9 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Why will Jimmy Kimmel's interview with James Talarico not air on ABC?
- Jimmy Kimmel stated that the interview will be posted on YouTube instead of airing on ABC due to pressure and threats from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Kimmel suggested that the FCC's scrutiny has changed the environment for political programming on traditional television.
- What is the broader dispute between ABC and the FCC?
- ABC's parent company, Disney, is contesting the FCC's decision to order an early renewal process for eight ABC-owned television stations. Disney has sued the FCC, alleging the regulator's actions are retaliatory and violate its First Amendment rights, while the FCC disputes these claims.
- How did a previous interview with James Talarico affect his campaign?
- In February, Stephen Colbert was barred from airing an interview with James Talarico due to FCC pressure. The Talarico campaign reported raising $2.5 million in the 24 hours after Colbert announced the interview would not air, and the YouTube clip received 9.5 million views.
Read it at the source
9 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
6- Jimmy Kimmel Interviewed Candidate Trump on ABC: Now He Says FCC Pressure Is Keeping James Talarico Off Air (opens IBTimes UK in a new tab)
IBTimes UK — is IBTimes UK biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Kimmel Says Trump’s FCC Has Threatened Show, So His James Talarico Interview Will Air On YouTube Instead Of ABC (opens Deadline in a new tab)
- ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Moves Interview With Texas Senate Candidate James Talarico From TV to YouTube Due to FCC Threats (opens Variety in a new tab)
- Jimmy Kimmel Says James Talarico Interview Won’t Air on TV After Trump’s FCC Threats (opens RollingStone in a new tab)
RollingStone — is RollingStone biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Jimmy Kimmel Says He Will Only Release His James Talarico Interview on YouTube After FCC Threats: ‘Best That We Can Do’ (opens The Wrap in a new tab)
- Jimmy Kimmel Says His Interview with James Tallarico Thursday Night Will NOT Air on ABC, But it Will be on His YouTube Channel (opens Showbiz411 in a new tab)
Showbiz411 — is Showbiz411 biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Right
1Not rated
2- Jimmy Kimmel Says Trump FCC Threatened Him Over Talarico Interview (opens BizToc in a new tab)
- Kimmel Says Trump’s FCC Has Threatened Show, So His James Talarico Interview Will Air On YouTube Instead Of ABC (opens franktrades.com in a new tab)
franktrades.com — is franktrades.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
How did this read?
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