Jimmy Kimmel’s interview with James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas’ coming election, already ranks as the late-night host’s second-most viewed YouTube video of 2026, less than three days after being uploaded.
In the nearly 72 hours since posting, “Jimmy Kimmel’s Interview with James Talarico That the FCC Doesn’t Want You To See” has garnered more than 8.3 million views on YouTube. That ranks it as the second-most viewed 2026 video uploaded to the official “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” channel, only coming in behind a January performance of “Golden (Glowin’ Version)” by “KPop Demon Hunters” singers Ejae, Audrey Nina and Rei Ami.
The 21-minute Talarico segment debuted directly on the internet Thursday evening as opposed to airing on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” broadcast on ABC. In a late-night monologue earlier in the week, Kimmel claimed that the decision was made due to “threats” against ABC by the Trump-appointed administration of the Federal Communications Commission. Talarico also slammed the decision as “government censorship” in an interview before flying to meet Kimmel.
“So if you want to learn about a candidate for the Senate tomorrow, you will have to go to the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ YouTube channel where you will see it in its entirety,” the late-night host said Wednesday. “And thank goodness we have that, because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do until November.”
The White House has stated that the FCC issued no threat for airing an interview with Talarico, claiming that Kimmel was creating a “false narrative” against the FCC.
Notably, YouTube recently changed how it counts viewership for long-form videos. In August, the platform began to register a view immediately once a video begins playing, as opposed to a prior, more strict metric that required a certain length of engagement.
It was reported Friday that ABC and Kimmel have entered negotiations to renew his talk show beyond its 2026-2027 season.
