From Variety · Selome Hailu · · 1m 10s
Kimmel's pulled interview found a bigger stage
ABC wouldn't air Jimmy Kimmel's talk with a Texas Senate candidate, so YouTube gave it 5 million views in a day.
In brief
ABC wouldn't air Jimmy Kimmel's talk with a Texas Senate candidate, so YouTube gave it 5 million views in a day. Pulling a segment off broadcast no longer buries it. The pressure campaign handed the interview a bigger audience than television would have. Originally reported by Variety.
Five million in a day
Jimmy Kimmel's interview with James Talarico passed 5 million YouTube views within 24 hours of going up.
The guest who got cut
Talarico is the Texas Democrat running for the U.S. Senate. His sit-down was booked, taped, and then kept off the air.
Why it never aired
Kimmel told viewers Wednesday night that threats from Donald Trump's FCC against ABC's affiliate stations were the reason.
Protecting the affiliates
The stations, not the network, were the pressure point. Kimmel framed the decision as shielding local broadcasters in Texas from the fallout.
“Out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas who would have to deal with this nonsense”
Said out loud on air
Rather than quietly dropping the segment, Kimmel announced the spike to his television audience and told them where to find it.
“It will be posted on YouTube instead. It will not be on TV.”
Censorship as promotion
A segment blocked from broadcast reached millions anyway. The attempt to keep it off television is what made people go looking for it.
In short
Pulling a segment off broadcast no longer buries it. The pressure campaign handed the interview a bigger audience than television would have.
