Jimmy Kimmel claims ABC scrapped James Talarico interview due to FCC threats

Jimmy Kimmel claimed ABC has relegated his interview with Dem Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico to YouTube, opting not to air it on the TV due to threats from President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission.The late-night funnyman told his Wednesday night audience that the “unusual circumstances” were decided after the FCC “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.”Kimmel said for the entire 23 years “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been on television, he has been able to interview Americans running for office with no problem, just like late-night icons David Letterman, Jay Leno and Arsenio Hall did.“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.In fact, he was very eager to come back for another interview, which he did just before he became the nominee in 2016,” Kimmel said.“But for some reason, and I can’t seem to figure out what that reason is, something has changed,” he added.ABC declined to comment.

The FCC did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.In February, Stephen Colbert – a Trump-hating comedian who was booted from CBS in May – similarly said the network’s lawyers had blocked his own interview with Talarico, accusing the FCC of trying to muzzle anti-Trump voices.It was posted on his show’s YouTube channel.ABC has been locked in a battle with the FCC for more than a year, most recently suing the agency in August for an alleged “retaliatory campaign” that sought to silence the network’s shows by threatening its local broadcast licenses.Last week, the FCC asked a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit, insisting that its early review of ABC’s licenses – including channels in New York, Los...