FCC Chair Brendan Carr accuses Talarico of running a 'hoax' with Jimmy Kimmel interview

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr this weekend blasted Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, accusing him of creating a "hoax" related to his interview with Jimmy Kimmel to drive up views.

The late night host said last week that he won't air his interview Thursday with Talarico on the ABC broadcast of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," and will be posting it on his YouTube channel instead, citing the FCC's crack down on its "equal time" rule.

Carr slammed Talarico and Kimmel in a long post on X, defending the equal time rule as being about "more" free speech and air time for political candidates and not less as Talarico had argued. 

"The Equal Time statute does not prohibit anyone from interviewing anyone on broadcast TV," Carr said. "It is about more speech, not less. Congress wanted to ensure that voters would decide elections, not media gatekeepers picking winners and losers by providing preferential airtime to some candidates and not others.

"Indeed, when the statute applies, it simply requires broadcast stations to offer comparable time and placement," he continued. "Comparable does not necessarily mean an interview by the same person on the same program either."

The move comes after Stephen Colbert's interview with Talarico was only posted online earlier this year, claiming he was warned by network executives about featuring the candidate on the broadcast because of the same rule.

"This ties back to Talarico," Carr said. "He’s just running the same hoax he did a few months ago on Colbert for the purpose of getting clicks and donations. He’s banking on people not understanding the statute or operating as partisan lemmings."

The comment comes after Talarico characterized the Kimmel incident earlier this week as government censorship and a form of “cancel culture.” He also posted the segment to X, calling it “the interview Trump’s FCC doesn’t want you to see.”

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.