FCC Chair Brendan Carr Just Caught Jimmy Kimmel Running the Same Hoax Stephen Colbert Tried Seven Months Ago

September 17, 2026 Cat2, The Media
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Stephen Colbert cried censorship in February and his show got canceled anyway.

Now Jimmy Kimmel is running the exact same script – and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr just called it a fundraising stunt dressed up as a free speech fight.

And FCC Chair Brendan Carr just caught Jimmy Kimmel running the same hoax that Stephen Colbert tried seven months ago.

What Kimmel Actually Did

James Talarico is a Texas state representative with no statewide name recognition, running a long-shot primary challenge that became a general election campaign against Ted Cruz.

He needs a national profile he hasn't earned.

Kimmel announced on his ABC show that he would move his Talarico interview to YouTube – not because anyone stopped him – but because he claimed the FCC had threatened his show over guest bookings and editorial decisions.

Carr's response was surgical.

The FCC Chairman laid out, point by point, why Kimmel's story falls apart the moment you understand what the equal time statute actually says.

The equal time rules apply to broadcast TV stations – the ones operating on public spectrum the government handed them for free, worth billions of dollars.

They do not apply to cable.

They do not apply outside of active elections for specific offices.

And they only trigger when a legally qualified candidate appears on air – not every politician who shows up on a talk show couch.

Ted Cruz appeared on ESPN's College GameDay the same weekend to explain the Protect College Sports Act.

Liberals melted down instantly, accusing ESPN and the FCC of giving Republicans special treatment.

Carr shut that down too.

ESPN is a cable channel.

Cruz is not currently a candidate for any office.

The equal time statute doesn't touch either situation, and anyone claiming otherwise is either ignorant of the law or lying about it.

Carr made clear which category Talarico falls into.

The Hoax Behind the Headlines

In February, Colbert announced on air that CBS lawyers told him in "no uncertain terms" he could not interview Talarico on broadcast.

CBS immediately pushed back – the network said it wasn't a prohibition at all, just legal guidance that the broadcast could create equal time obligations for other candidates in the same race, with options available to satisfy them.

The show chose YouTube instead.

Colbert then spent an entire segment attacking CBS for censorship that CBS said it never committed.

The Late Show got canceled months later anyway.

Now Kimmel is running the same play.

Carr named it directly: Talarico "is banking on people not understanding the statute or operating as partisan lemmings."

That's the whole game.

Talarico can't beat Cruz at the ballot box, so he's found a way to generate national headlines without winning a single vote.

A Democrat crying "Trump censorship" on two separate late-night shows fills ActBlue accounts and keeps his name in front of a national donor base – while ABC and CBS absorb whatever backlash follows.

Carr said Talarico ran the stunt "for the purpose of getting clicks and donations."

He's right.

Broadcasters Made a Deal – and Now They Want to Break It

Carr didn't stop at exposing Kimmel and Talarico.

He reminded the American people exactly what ABC's broadcast license actually represents.

The federal government handed over-the-air broadcasters free access to public spectrum worth many billions of dollars.

Your spectrum.

In exchange, those broadcasters promised to operate in the public interest.

The deal is simple: the government guarantees that nobody else can touch their assigned frequencies – a legally protected monopoly – and in return, they meet their public interest obligations, including the equal time rules when they actually apply.

Carr's framing cuts right through ABC's victimhood act: you want the free spectrum, you honor the deal.

Disney is currently suing the FCC in federal court after Carr ordered early renewal reviews of ABC's broadcast licenses, citing the network's ongoing DEI investigation and its decision to skip Trump's July 16 election security address entirely.

Disney is calling it government retaliation.

Carr is calling it accountability.

Meanwhile, ABC executives are pocketing the value of spectrum the American taxpayer subsidizes while their late-night host manufactures political hoaxes for a Senate candidate who can't win on his own merits.

Kimmel and Colbert turned the Talarico story into a donation machine dressed up as a constitutional crisis.

Carr just read the statute out loud and let it do the work.

Sources:

  • Warner Todd Huston, "FCC Chair Brendan Carr Slams Jimmy Kimmel for 'Running the Same Hoax as Colbert' With Talarico Interview Stunt," Breitbart, September 14, 2026.
  • Joseph Wulfsohn, "Colbert fumes at CBS, says it barred him from interviewing Texas Dem amid FCC crackdown," Fox News, February 17, 2026.
  • "Kimmel reveals he's interviewing James Talarico under 'unusual circumstances,' citing FCC threats," Fox News, September 10, 2026.
  • "FCC Chairman Accuses James Talarico of 'Hoax' With Kimmel Appearance, Which ABC Punted to YouTube," Variety, September 14, 2026.
  • FCC Media Bureau, "Guidance on Political Equal Opportunities Requirement for Broadcast Television Stations," FCC, January 21, 2026.