Stephen Colbert says CBS didn’t air Rep. James Talarico interview out of fear of FCC
“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert said CBS did not air his Monday interview with Senate candidate Rep. James Talarico, D-Texas, out of fear of the Federal Communications Commission.
Colbert kicked off Monday night’s show by almost immediately mentioning Talarico’s absence.
“He was supposed to be there, but our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, told us in no uncertain terms that we couldn’t have him on the show,” Colbert said. “Then I was told in uncertain terms that not only could I not have it, but I couldn’t mention that I didn’t have it. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about it.”
CBS and the FCC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“The Late Show” posted Talarico’s never-before-seen interview on YouTube. In the interview, Colbert and Talarico discuss the FCC’s crackdown, including the opening of an investigation into ABC’s “The View,” after Talarico appeared on the show.
“I think Donald Trump is worried that we are about to overthrow Texas,” said Talarico, who was met with applause from the audience. “This is the party that opposed cancel culture, and now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read. And that’s the most dangerous type of cancel culture, the one that comes from the top.”
Talarico accused the Trump administration of “selling the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians.”
“A threat to one of our First Amendment rights is a threat to all of our First Amendment rights.”
CBS’s decision not to air the segment comes as the FCC, the government media regulator, and particularly its chairman, Brendan Carr, have been particularly combative with the networks that have angered the president.
Trump has been suggesting for months that the FCC could revoke TV stations’ licenses. More recently, Carr, who was appointed by Trump to head the FCC, said daytime and late-night TV talk shows must follow the rule of equal time for political candidates.
The FCC’s equal time rule prohibits radio and broadcast stations from hosting political candidates during an election without providing airtime to their opponents. On his show Monday, Colbert emphasized that press interviews and interviews with politicians on talk shows were exceptions.
On January 21, Carr released a letter warning the networks about the rule, saying he was considering eliminating the exceptions due to the networks’ potential partisan motivations.
Colbert fired back at Carr on Monday, accusing the president of being motivated by partisan goals.
“Let’s call it what it is: Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says bad things about Trump on television because all Trump does is watch television,” Colbert joked.
This comes months after ABC released “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” interrupted “indefinitely” after Carr criticized the host’s comments about murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel accused “the MAGA gang” of trying to “score political points” by characterizing the suspect “as something other than one of them.”
Kimmel’s show went off the air a few days later and returned to the air after about a week.
Austin Mullen And Allied Channel contributed.
