We have ourselves a case of the age-old, “He Said, His Network Said.”
Some 15 hours after Stephen Colbert claimed on-air that The Late Show had been told by CBS Legal that it could not air its interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico, the network has come forth with a statement challenging that framing.
“The Late Show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico,” reads a statement from the network. Rather, CBS contends, the late-night talker was presented with legal guidance that warned of triggering the FCC’s Equal Time rule.
Ultimately, CBS’ statement reads, “The Late Show decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options.”
Coming out of his Monday-night monologue, Colbert told viewers that Talarico—who’s running for the U.S. Senate—”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.”
The reason for the restriction, Colbert explained, was FCC chair Brendan Carr recently indicating that late-night talk shows may, in some cases, now find themselves exempt from the FCC’s Equal Time rule. Meaning, if The Late Show aired its Talarico interview, it might be forced to provide commensurate airtime to those running against him, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Colbert noted that “at this point, [Carr has only] released a letter that says he’s thinking about doing away with the exception, but my network is unilaterally enforcing it as if he had. But I want to assure you, this decision is for purely financial reasons.” (The “financial reasons” quip was Colbert calling back to CBS’ justification for cancelling The Late Show at the end of this season.)
Instead of airing the sit-down with Talarico on CBS, The Late Show posted it to the program’s YouTube channel—though Colbert claimed he was not allowed to even share the URL on-air.
“Let’s just call this what it is,” the late-night vet said. “Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV. Because all Trump does is watch TV.”
In the interview posted to You Tube—which as of Tuesday afternoon already had 2.2 million views—Talarico indeed ventured that “Trump is worried that we’re about to flip Texas,” ergo the enhanced scrutiny of his TV appearances, including on ABC’s daytime talker The View. “Corporate media executives are selling out the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians,” he opined.
Read CBS’ statement in full:
“The Late Show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled. The Late Show decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options.”
This is damage control you’re trying! Everyone sees through your bullshit! You have no leg to stand on, and you fucking know it!
Yeah, I’m not buying it. Especially since they were very cagey about what they did say.
So racist Colbert lied and it turned out he refuses to have a Black Woman on his show, instead endorsing the white caucasian male.
So racist of Colbert
Jasmine Crockett just came out with a statement stating that Talarico and his enablers are running racist ads against her.
Also, that KKK Kolbert never invited her on the show this week.
Tell KKK Kolbert to stop mocking Strong Black Women!
….um Crockett was already on Colbert’s show like 6 months ago (technically twice), not to mention she used her interview to announce her campaign. But it’s up to her if she wants be interviewed, either w/ Colbert or 60 minutes, if she wants to appeal and make her case to a wider platform.
So that talking point is absolutely flawed.
This isn’t about pitting between Democratic candidates as much as it is about fighting top authorities vs bottom, as Talarico said
BTW every accusation is a confession of the self, Mark. Shame on you, opportunistic troll~👎
You’re the one lying! You want to see Democrats split so that your precious scum in the Republican Party can retain that seat!
I was watching Colbert when he explained what had occurred. I did watch the interview on YouTube later. I have never heard of such a ridiculous rule, nor have I ever seen it enforced. I believe Trump told the FCC TO PULL IT and CBS IS BOWING TO HIM. Just like they did and canceled Colberts show come May, even though he won the Emmy award 2 years in a row. STINKS TO WASHINGTON! Shame on you CBS!!!!
The rule has been around for decades to prevent the media from unfairly promoting a candidate. Do your homework before spouting off stupidities.
Don’t you lie to us, boy!
The rule does not apply to talk shows and never has. Do YOUR homework, Stupid!
Did you even bother to listen to him.
He plainly said that this “rule” has NEVER been enacted.
All of a sudden, they care. You so full of shit, pull DJT’s cock outa your mouth, shitbag.
You do your homework.
He plainly said this “Rule” has never been enacted. Never.
The FCC is bought and paid for, you jackass. Go crawl into your mama’s basement.
Just ignore the ignorant trolls. There has been discussions for the last few weeks that talk shows and late night shows had to abide by the equal time rule. This rule has been enforced for years not something that just popped up.
Late night talk shows are not the same as regular news! You just want Drumpf to punish those that gave your Dear Toddler a sad!
CBS is clearly and quite awkwardly gaslighting.
We should drag djt out of the White House and put him in the stocks.
CBS is full of shit
No their statement is factual.
That’s bullshit!