Jimmy Kimmel’s latest conversation with James Talarico has found itself at the centre of an unusually complicated television detour. What began as another late-night political interview has since acquired a second life beyond the broadcast it was meant for. Viewers are now left with one very simple question: if it is not turning up on television, where exactly did it go?

The interview may have missed television, but it has not exactly disappeared; Kimmel has simply moved the conversation elsewhere.

The full interview is available on the official Jimmy Kimmel Live! YouTube channel, under the title Jimmy Kimmel’s Interview with James Talarico That the FCC Doesn’t Want You To See. Talarico, a Democratic Texas state representative and 2026 US Senate candidate, sat down with Kimmel for an interview that had originally been intended for the ABC broadcast. Instead, viewers are getting the conversation directly online, without the broadcast restrictions that became the reason for its detour.

The unusual reroute is particularly notable because this is not Talarico’s first late-night interview to make the television-to-YouTube journey. Earlier this year, his scheduled appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was also kept off CBS amid concerns about the FCC’s equal-time rules. That interview was subsequently released online.

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But getting an interview onto YouTube was the easy part. Getting it off television is where Kimmel’s latest fight with the FCC begins.

Jimmy Kimmel announced on his Wednesday, September 9 monologue that his interview with James Talarico will not air on ABC because of pressure surrounding the FCC’s treatment of political candidates on broadcast talk shows. He said the commission had threatened him, ABC and its affiliates over the appearance, leaving the network concerned about the regulatory consequences of putting the state representative on television.

At the centre of the dispute is the FCC’s interpretation of the "equal-time" rule, which requires broadcasters to provide comparable opportunities to opposing political candidates in certain circumstances. 

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has been particularly vocal about applying greater scrutiny to political appearances on broadcast television. The commission had previously investigated Talarico’s appearance on The View, while ABC has also been fighting the FCC over broader regulatory scrutiny of its stations and programming. Kimmel has framed the situation as regulatory pressure interfering with editorial decisions, while the FCC maintains that its concerns involve broadcasters’ obligations under existing rules. 

For viewers, however, the practical outcome is considerably simpler: the interview is still there. It just took the scenic route to get to your screen.

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Will you be watching Jimmy Kimmel's James Talarico interview on YouTube? Let us know in the comments.