Jimmy Kimmel warned his audience on Wednesday that he and his show “might need your help again” after the Federal Communications Commission said that shows like his and “The View” may no longer be exempt from the equal opportunities requirements instituted by Congress.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr wrote earlier on Wednesday that the exceptions for late night and daytime talk shows that treated interviews with politicians as “bona fide news” interviews, thereby letting them bypass the equal opportunities rule, should be treated on a case-by-case basis and not be granted to shows “motivated by purely partisan political purposes.”
The guidance was not a change to regulation, but it came months after Carr publicly targeted shows the ABC shows, prompting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to be taken off the air for almost a week in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death in September.
Kimmel told his audience on Wednesday night that the commission is “planning to make it difficult for shows like ours and ‘The View’ to interview politicians they don’t align with,” warning the effort could lead to more censorship.
“For real, we are once again getting threatened by the FCC,” he said. “I might need your help again.”
But, Kimmel noted, he did find a guest willing to help him adhere to Carr’s clampdown. While he quipped that he invited President Trump, “His head was unavailable to talk,” so he found another appendage willing to step up instead: Trump’s “badly bruised right hand,” one documented in multiple photos with make-up applied to cover said bruising.
The show then cut to a small prop “hand” that “spoke” in Trump’s voice. “Hello, America,” it said. “It‘s me in the flesh. The rotting, diseased flesh.”
