“Motivated by Common Purposes”: Stephen Colbert Fires Letter Criticizing CBS for Refusing to Air His Interview with Texas Sen. James Talarico
Stephen Colbert criticized CBS The Late Show after the network barred him from interviewing Texas Democratic state representative James Talarico, citing the FCC’s “equal time” rule.
Colbert didn’t hold back during his opening monologue Monday (Feb. 16) evening as he called out his network for telling him “in no uncertain terms” that he was not allowed to have Talarico on the show. But the late-night host revealed that he found a way to reverse the network’s decision of his own volition.
“You know who’s not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas state representative James Talarico,” he said on the show. “He was supposed to be there, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we would not be able to get him on the radio.”
She continued, “I was told, somehow, that not only could I not live with him, I couldn’t say that I don’t have him. And because my network doesn’t want us to talk about this… Let’s talk about this.”
Colbert explained that the interview was blocked because of the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal time” rule, which means that radio and broadcast programs must give equal time to all candidates for political office. The late-night host pointed out that there are exceptions to the rule for news interviews and talk show interviews, but it seems FCC head Brendan Carr wants to reverse the course on that, too.
In the latest guidelines, Carr said there should be no exceptions to nighttime shows because “some of them are motivated by partisan motives.”
“Yeah, FCC you,” Colbert replied. “I think you’re motivated by partisanship yourself. Sir, you’re screwed because you did it. Let’s call it what it is: The Donald Trump administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV because all Trump does is watch TV. He’s like a toddler with too much screen time. He’s crazy and he drops the load in his diapers.”
Colbert, whose show is set to end in May after being canceled by CBS, didn’t hold back as he continued to target Carr on the show as he aired the latest statement from the FCC chairman directed at him and Jimmy Kimmel. “If Kimmel or Colbert want to continue doing their shows, and they don’t want to comply with this requirement, they can go to a cable channel or a podcast or a streaming service, and that’s fine,” Carr said on Fox News.
“I decided to take Brendan Carr’s advice,” Colbert said.
The late night host shared that he still plans to interview Talarico. However, the interview will be shared on the show’s YouTube page instead of being broadcast on the show. “The network says I can’t give you the URL or the QR code, but I promise you, if you go to our YouTube page, you’ll find it,” Colbert told viewers.
The comedian ended his hilarious speech with a staged photo of Carr in the nude as he joked, “All I can show you is what we always show when we have to pull things out at the last minute: This is Brendan Carr’s sweet nudity.”
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weekdays at 11:35 pm ET on CBS.
