Colbert Lashes Out at CBS for Blocking Him From Hosting Texas Democrat, Makes Snide Comment About His Show Being Canceled

CBS’s soon-to-be-canceled “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert is fuming over the network’s decision to prevent him from airing an interview with a high-profile Democrat running for Senate in Texas, James Talarico, due to concerns that it would violate the Federal Communications Commission’s equal time requirement.The FCC’s equal time rule requires that if a broadcast network lets a candidate for office “use its facilities,” it must provide the same amount of airtime to legally filed opposing candidates for the primary or general election. Late-night programs and daytime talk shows — which mostly book liberal guests — have been seen as exempt from that rule since 2006. However, last month, the FCC clarified that they do not qualify for that exemption and urged broadcasters to comply with the rule. Violations of the rule can lead to fines.The rule only applies to the handful of over-the-air, traditional broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS are the major players when it comes to daytime and late-night programming) that use free government airwaves and therefore are subject to FCC regulation.The rule clarification from the Trump FCC has not gone over well with liberals, who view it as an infringement of their right to free speech. And on Monday, Mr. Colbert expressed his frustration with CBS for apparently telling him that he could not air an interview with Mr. Talarico – a darling of elites in Austin, San Francisco, and NewYork – due to concerns about the equal time rule. In this case, the decision to block the interview was likely due to concerns about not providing equal time to Mr. Talarico’s far-left primary opponent, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. It’s not clear why Mr. Colbert did not also book Ms. Crockett, a fierce opponent of President Trump.It appears that CBS is only enforcing a narrow interpretation of the equal time rule, applying it to active races. Mr. Colbert has had several prominent, liberal politicians on his show in recent weeks, including Senator Bernie Sanders, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and Virginia’s governor, Abigail Spanberger. On Wednesday, he is scheduled to interview one of the two Democratic senators from Georgia, Jon Ossoff, who is running for reelection in 2026 in a key race that could decide control of the Senate. Mr. Osoff has recently emerged as an articulate critic of the right, referring to Mr. Trump and his circle as “the Epstein class.”Notably, Mr. Shapiro, who is running for reelection in 2026, appeared on Mr. Colbert’s show after the FCC’s notice about the equal time rule. Politico reports that he is “not expected to face a significant primary challenger.” Since the beginning of 2026, Mr. Colbert has interviewed several Democratic politicians but has not interviewed any Republican officials, nor are there any scheduled to appear on his show this week.On Monday, the late-night host openly defied what he said was a directive from CBS lawyers not to even mention that he’d been told he couldn’t interview Mr. Talarico.“You know who is not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas State Representative James Talarico,” Mr. Colbert said. “He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast. Then I was told in some uncertain terms that, not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”He said that the equal time rule applies to radio and broadcast television, and noted that there has been a lack of action by the FCC.“But on January 21st of this year, a letter was released by FCC chairman and smug bowling pin Brendan Carr,” Mr. Colbert said. “In this letter, Carr said he was thinking about dropping the exception for talk shows because he said some of them were motivated by partisan purposes. Well, sir, you’re chairman of the FCC. So, FCC you, because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself, sir. Hey, you ‘smelt’ it ’cause you dealt it.”Mr. Colbert mocked Mr. Trump, likening him to a “toddler with too much screen time.” He attributed the warning about the equal time rule to what he said was an effort by the FCC to crack down on anti-Trump content.Turning back to the matter of the equal time rule, he said that the FCC has not formally updated the equal time rule to include talk shows, but CBS is “universally enforcing it.”“But I want to assure you … this decision is for purely financial reasons,” Mr. Colbert said.His comment was a shot at the statement CBS released in July when it announced it was canceling “The Late Show” in May, which it said was “purely” for “financial reasons.” The announcement of the cancellation, which was made while Skydance Media was waiting for the FCC’s approval to acquire CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, was cast as a political decision made to placate the Trump Administration.Mr. Colbert went on to criticize the equal time rule, claiming he was “absolutely not allowed” to show a photograph of Mr. Talarico. He then displayed an image of a person who appeared to be Mr. Talarico, but claimed it was a “stock photo we found when we Googled ‘Not James Talarico.’” An outlet that covers late-night programming, LateNighter, posted on X that it found the stock image used by Mr. Colbert, writing, “No, Stephen Colbert didn’t defy CBS’s order over that photo of James Talarico. The over-the-shoulder image of the Texas Democrat that aired on Monday night’s Late Show was, as Colbert noted on air, a stock photo.”“I cannot show you any form of James Talarico. I can’t interview James Talarico. I can’t show any pictures of James Talarico. I’m not sure I can even say the words James Talarico,” Mr. Colbert said. The FCC chairman has repeatedly said that cable networks, streaming programs, or podcasts are not subject to the same regulations because they do not rely on public airwaves, and suggested that if media personalities wish to produce what he calls “partisan circus[es]” they should shift to a different platform. “I decided to take Brendan Carr’s advice. I am going to interview James Talarico tonight. But, it’s not going to be on ‘The Late Show.’ It’s going to be on the Late Show’s YouTube page,” Mr. Colbert said. The network says, I can’t give you a URL or a QR code, but I promise you, if you go to our YouTube page, you’ll find it.”The interview, shot just like any other “Late Show” interview, is on YouTube and has received more than one million views so far.Mr. Talarico shared a portion of the interview on X and wrote, “This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see. His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert. Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas.”Despite his comment, there was no suggestion from Mr. Colbert that the FCC intervened to block the interview. The decision by Mr. Colbert to lash out at CBS marks a departure from his response since the network announced it was canceling his show. He has typically avoided criticizing CBS, often saying he has had a great relationship with the network, and instead focused his criticism on Mr. Trump and Mr. Carr. CBS did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Colbert Lashes Out at CBS for Blocking Him From Hosting Texas Democrat, Makes Snide Comment About His Show Being Canceled

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