CBS said that “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was not prohibited from airing an interview with Texas Rep. James Talarico contrary to the late night host’s claims on his show Monday night.
The host, now in his last season of the talk show after its abrupt cancellation last summer, told his studio audience Monday that he received a call from CBS’s lawyers, who said he could not have Talarico on the show nor could he share why with his viewers.
The network refuted this statement and said that the late night show was instead given guidance for how they could air the segment and operate within FCC equal-time rules.
“’The Late Show’ was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico,” the network said in a Tuesday statement, obtained by TheWrap. “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.”
Colbert discussed his interview with Talarico regardless, despite his network’s wishes (the same network that cancelled his show, despite its ratings, after his critical comments of parent company Paramount for its $16 million legal settlement with President Donald Trump).
“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,” Colbert said on Monday. “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 continued: “So, you might have heard of this thing called the equal time rule. It’s an old FCC rule that applies only to radio and broadcast television, not cable or streaming, that says if a show has a candidate on during an election, they have to have all that candidates’ opponents on as well. It’s the FCC’s most time-honored rule right after no nipples at the Super Bowl.”
Colbert clarified that there has long been an exception to this rule for talk show interviews with politicians. However, FCC chairman Brendan Carr said in a letter earlier this year that he was debating dropping the exception because he claimed some talk shows were motivated by partisan purposes.
“The Late Show” shared Colbert’s interview with Talarico in full on the talk show’s YouTube channel.
