Late-night television host Stephen Colbert said on Monday evening that his network, CBS, blocked him from airing an interview with a democratic candidate because of new guidance from the Trump administration on giving equal airtime to political candidates.
Colbert told his studio audience that he had planned to have Texas State Democratic Representative James Talarico on that evening, but that CBS’s lawyers told him “in no uncertain terms” that he could not appear on the show.
"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,” Colbert said.
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) long-standing equal time rule requires radio and broadcast news outlets to give equal time to candidates from both parties during election season.
Colbert stated in the segment that the one loophole in the rule is talk-show interviews with politicians, and that the rule does not apply to cable or streaming services.
In late January, FCC chairman Brendan Carr floated the idea of eliminating the loophole. In a statement, the FCC said that it "has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late-night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption."
"Moreover, a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under longstanding FCC precedent."
Colbert hits out at FCC chairman, Trump administration for political motivations
Colbert hit out at Carr, accusing him of being politically motivated himself.
"Well, sir, you're chairman of the FCC, so FCCU, because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself," Colbert said. "Sir, you smelt it because you dealt it."
“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,” Colbert said.
Notably, Talarico’s interview with Colbert came hours before early voting opened in Texas. Talarico is facing off against US Rep. Jasmine Crockett for the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Sen. John Cornyn.
In a post on X/Twitter featuring a clip of the interview, Talarico said, "Donald Trump is worried we're about to flip Texas."
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. pic.twitter.com/BCev5jZbKc
He also added in a separate statement that the cancellation was “the most dangerous kind of cancel culture, the kind that comes from the top."
“This is the party that ran against cancel culture, and now they are trying to control what we watch, what we say, and what we read," the statement reads. "Corporate media executives are selling out the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians. A threat to any of our First Amendment rights is a threat to all of our First Amendment rights.”
The Colbert Show posted the 15-minute interview with Talarico on YouTube. At the start of the interview, Colbert noted that it was an online exclusive.
CBS responded on Tuesday and said that Colbert “ was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule."
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, said in a Tuesday PBS interview that the incident was "very serious."
"Broadcasters are already self-censoring because they don't want to get before the crosshairs of this administration. And that is bad for the First Amendment. It's bad for the freedom of the press," she said. "We need broadcasters, we need all journalists to hold us to account, because that is their role in our democracy."
"CBS is fully protected under the First Amendment to determine what interviews it airs. That makes its decision to yield to political pressure all the more disappointing," she said in a separate statement on X/Twitter. "Corporate interests cannot justify retreating from airing newsworthy content."