Jimmy Kimmel Says FCC Is 'Coming for Us Again' as Brendan Carr Issues Demands for LateNight Hosts and "The View" Brenton BlanchetJanuary 24, 2026 at 12:04 AM 0 ABC; Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Jimmy Kimmel (left); Brendan Carr Jimmy Kimmel has a message for the FCC, and fans, after the agency demanded shows like his provide equal air time for candidates from multiple political parties Kimmel said that the Trump administration's FCC and its chairman Brendan Carr are "reinterpreting long agreedupon rules to stifle us" "It's another example of this administration trying to squash anyone wh...
- - Jimmy Kimmel Says FCC Is 'Coming for Us Again' as Brendan Carr Issues Demands for Late-Night Hosts and "The View"
Brenton BlanchetJanuary 24, 2026 at 12:04 AM
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ABC; Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty
Jimmy Kimmel (left); Brendan Carr -
Jimmy Kimmel has a message for the FCC, and fans, after the agency demanded shows like his provide equal air time for candidates from multiple political parties
Kimmel said that the Trump administration's FCC and its chairman Brendan Carr are "reinterpreting long agreed-upon rules to stifle us"
"It's another example of this administration trying to squash anyone who doesn't support them by following 'the rules,' " Kimmel said
Jimmy Kimmel told viewers that the FCC is "coming for us again" after Brendan Carr's latest guidelines for late-night television and daytime talk shows — and he has "no idea what the outcome of this is gonna be."
During his monologue on Thursday, Jan. 22, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host, 58, gave a detailed explanation of the Federal Communications Commission's latest public notice, as the agency said that shows like Kimmel's must provide equal airtime for candidates from different parties when interviewing political figures.
On Wednesday, Jan. 21, FCC chairman Carr — a vocal opponent of Jimmy Kimmel Live! who previously advocated for the show's brief suspension in September — shared a release to X in an attempt to remind both daytime and late-night TV programs of what he called an "obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities." He also claimed some shows may have been "ignoring or misreading the law in recent years" and alleged his agency "enforcing the statute passed by congress is not weaponization."
Nonetheless, Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and others are calling out Carr, 47, and citing a two-decade-old decision from the FCC in 2006, when the agency decided the similarly formatted The Tonight Show was exempt from the "equal opportunity" language laid out. In the years since, political candidates have indeed appeared on late-night television and on daytime TV shows like The View without the shows in question having to give political opponents equal airtime.
Now, during his latest monologue on Jan. 22, Kimmel claimed that the FCC and Carr — who he called "Brendan Cartel" — are "reinterpreting long agreed-upon rules to stifle us."
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Jimmy Kimmel attends The Hollywood Reporter Women In Entertainment even on Dec. 3, 2025
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"Sometimes there are 20 people from 20 different parties running for the same spot and if you can't interview all of them, you can't interview any of them" Kimmel said.
He then cited Jay Leno's 2006 interview with then-gubernatorial candidate in California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a ruling that followed where the FCC decided it was "not subject to those equal-time" rules.
"That's how every talk show has operated since then, until this week," Kimmel said, telling his audience that Carr claimed his show "no longer qualified" for the exemption.
"It's a sneaky little way of keeping viewpoints that aren't his off air," Kimmel alleged. "It's his latest attack on free speech and it's a joke because this isn't the '50s anymore. Back then there were only three major networks."
He added, "Whatever happens, I want to point it out. It's another example of this administration trying to squash anyone who doesn't support them by following 'the rules...' And it's especially upsetting because we've been working so hard with the FCC, hand-in-hand, for so many years, bleeping and blurring the big TV moments of the week, whether they need it or not."
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host also touched on the FCC news during his Wednesday, Jan. 21 monologue, when he said President Donald Trump's "minions" at the agency were planning to "make it difficult for shows like ours and The View to interview politicians they don't align with."
Colbert, host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, also touched on the FCC's new guidelines during his Thursday show, calling it an "attempt to silence me, Jimmy and Seth [Meyers]."
"And I've got to say one thing to the FCC," he said. "Hey, I'm flattered you think that appearing on my show has the power to affect politics in any way. I've been doing this job for 21 years and let me tell you something, buddy: If our government had turned out the way I had chosen, you would not have the power to make this announcement."
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weekdays on CBS at 11:35 p.m. ET.
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Source: Entertainment
Published: January 23, 2026 at 01:46PM on Source: OPERA MAG
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