For the second time this year, James Talarico is being sent to YouTube.
In February, Stephen Colbert announced that, after scheduling the Texas democrat as a guest on Late Night, CBS lawyers told him “we could not have him on the broadcast.”
The Late Night host went on to explain FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s new guidance on the “equal time” rule, which requires broadcasters who feature qualified political candidates on their airwaves provide time to rivals, if requested. While late-night shows had been exempted from the equal time rule, Trump‘s FCC indicated that they would no longer enjoy that protection.
So his interview with Talarico was posted on YouTube.
Ironically, Colbert observed at the time, “two of the people most affected by this threat are me and my friend Jimmy Kimmel.”
Flash forward to tonight, when Kimmel announced his own planned interview with Talarico would not air on ABC tomorrow night.
After observing that Trump himself had been on Jimmy Kimmel Live! twice before he was elected, the host said, “Now that he 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. Guest bookings, it would seem, they don’t like.
“And so, out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas who would have to deal with this nonsense, my interview tomorrow with James Talarico will not air on television. It will be posted on YouTube instead.
He continued, “So, if you want to learn about a candidate for the Senate tomorrow, you will have to go to the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel where you will see it in its entirety. And thank goodness we have that, because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do — until November, of course.”
Kimmel then urged viewers to vote.
“Because that’s the most important thing you can do,” he said.
Ironically, the news may only serve to boost Talarico.
In the 24 hours after the Colbert switcheroo, the Texas democrat raised $2.5M for his senatorial campaign.
