Jimmy Kimmel Tells America I Might Need Your Help Again After Latest Round of FCC Threats
America: assemble! Jimmy Kimmel needs our help. Ten minutes into his Wednesday Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue, Kimmel addressed the elephant in the room: the FCC has him in its crosshairs. Again. Earlier in the day, the Federal Communications Commissionclarified its guidance on its equal time rule, which stipulates that broadcast stations must afford equal air…
America: assemble! Jimmy Kimmel needs our help.
Ten minutes into his Wednesday Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue, Kimmel addressed the elephant in the room: the FCC has him in its crosshairs. Again.
Earlier in the day, the Federal Communications Commissionclarified its guidance on its equal time rule, which stipulates that broadcast stations must afford equal air time to competing politicians. Talk shows had been exempt from the rule since Jay Leno’s Tonight Show fought against it — and won — in 1996. Leno’s team argued that he was conducting interviews that qualified for the same carveout granted to news programming.
So much for that.
“Importantly, the FCC has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption,” the FCC wrote yesterday. “Moreover, a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under long-standing FCC precedent.”
The new rule could impact who you see on shows likeThe View,Jimmy Kimmel Live!,The Tonight ShowandThe Late Show, a person with knowledge of the change told The Hollywood Reporter. If The View, for example, has a Democratic politician on as its guest, the opposing Republican could basically book him or herself. Same goes for the late night programs.
On his Truth Social platform, President Donald Trump amplified his FCC’s plans. Trump’s post links to this Los Angeles Times story; THR‘s version of the same story can be found here.
“We are once again getting threatened by the FCC,” Kimmel said in response. “I might need your help again.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! was famously put on ice for a few nights after an on-air remark he made about the presumed (at the time) political leanings of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk’s assassin. The pressure to cancel Kimmel first came from the stations; shortly after, the FCC inserted itself. Hollywood loudly rallied around Kimmel. Disney folded somewhat, suspending Kimmel for what turned out to be just a couple of shows. After the heat died down a bit, Kimmel was back on ABC.
Watch Kimmel’s Wednesday monologue here:
