The White House on Thursday accused ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel of “play-acting” after the late-night host announced his interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico would not air because of what he described as threats from the Trump administration.

The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host said the interview, originally scheduled to broadcast Thursday on ABC, would instead be uploaded to the show’s YouTube channel to avoid provoking President Donald Trump and the Federal Communications Commission with a guest “it would seem they don’t like.”

“His FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations, based on simple traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings it would seem they don’t like,” Kimmel said during his Wednesday night monologue. “And so, out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas, who would have to deal with this nonsense, my interview tomorrow with James Talarico will not air on television.”

His explanation did little to quell the tensions between the Trump administration and Disney, the parent company of ABC, which employs Kimmel. The White House lashed out at the talk show host Thursday, denying that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr had threatened him.

“Jimmy Kimmel is play-acting—as he often does—to create a false narrative about this administration’s policies,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement. “Chairman Carr has not threatened him regarding interviewing James Talarico, or any other candidate. Any media outlet blindly amplifying Kimmel’s egocentric delusion should insist on proof. Of which they will find none.”

Kimmel on Wednesday night noted that he has interviewed numerous political candidates over the years — including Trump in 2015 during his presidential run — at which time he “seemed to have no problem with the idea of talk show hosts interviewing candidates.”

Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, expressed outrage over the reasons that kept the Talarico interview off the air, saying it “shows just how far this Administration’s campaign of censorship and control has gone.”

“This is now the second time in a matter of months that a late-night host has disclosed they had to bury an interview because of FCC intimidation, and there is no way to know how many other editorial decisions across the country have quietly been shaped by this same pressure,” Gomez, who has been an outspoken critic of Carr’s early license renewal effort, said in a statement Thursday.

“No host, local affiliate, or network should have to weigh federal retaliation before booking a guest for a newsworthy interview. Any attempt to pressure broadcasters into self-censorship undermines both press freedom and the public’s right to hear from candidates in their communities seeking public office,” Gomez added.

Disney has been locked in a legal battle with the FCC after the agency threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of the network’s eight owned-and-operated local TV stations through an unusual process known as early license review.

Carr launched the unprecedented process in April, shortly after Trump demanded Kimmel be fired from his late-night perch over jokes he made related to this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Those jokes aired well before a gunman attempted to breach the annual dinner, but the president insisted Kimmel’s commentary was “a despicable call to violence.”

The FCC chairman has insisted the early review was initiated as part of an investigation into diversity, equity and inclusion practices at the company. But in a legal challenge to the license review filed in federal court last month, Disney argued the FCC’s actions amounted to a politically motivated attack on free speech by the Trump administration.

“Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” the lawsuit said.

Talarico, who is facing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the state’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, has found himself at the center of late-night politics before. In February, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” was blocked from airing an interview with Talarico in a decision driven by its parent company, CBS, after Carr pushed to apply the agency’s “equal-time” rule to late news interviews and talk show programs.

“Let’s just call this what it is: Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV, OK? He’s like a toddler with too much screen time. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diaper,” Colbert, whose show aired its last episode in May after CBS canceled the program, said at the time. Talarico’s campaign raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours after that segment was streamed on the show’s YouTube channel instead.

The FCC submitted a motion to dismiss Disney’s First Amendment lawsuit, which was filed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Sept. 3. U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan, a Biden appointee who is overseeing the case, has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 6.

“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,” Kimmel 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, of course. Make sure you’re registered to vote.”

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