Jimmy Kimmel calls FCC threats 'attack on free speech'

Jimmy Kimmel stands firm on his claim that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “threatened” his show after he interviewed a Democratic Senate candidate and the Oval Office accused him of “play-acting.”

Earlier this week, Kimmel announced that his recorded interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico for his late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been stopped from going on air on ABC; however, it will be released on YouTube on Thursday, September 10.

The 58-year-old American television host and comedian claimed that the “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.”

While delivering his monologue during the September 10 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he affirmed his statement, as he began saying, “This interview will not be televised because of threats from the FCC led by [chairman Brendan Carr], who says we do not have the right to interview whichever candidates we want to interview.”

The Project X star stated that it is nothing but “another attack on free speech” and it has now become “all too familiar for us at the show, for us in the country.”

It is pertinent to mention that this comes after Jimmy Kimmel announced his show’s return to New York City for a special broadcast, which will be organized at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House from Monday, September 28, to Friday, October 2.