Stephen Colbert revealed that CBS blocked him from airing an interview on The Late Show.
What interview did CBS block on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert?
During Monday night’s show, Colbert revealed that Jennifer Garner would be one of his guests. Colbert then spoke about an interview he conducted that could not air during the CBS broadcast.
“You know who is not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas State Representative James Talarico,” Colbert said on the CBS broadcast. “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.”
Talarico is a Democratic candidate for the 2026 U.S. Senate race in Texas. Talarico is also an outspoken critic of President Donald J. Trump.
Colbert explained the FCC’s “equal time rule,” which only applies to radio and broadcast television. It states that if a show has a candidate on during an election, they have to have all of the candidate’s opponents on as well. Colbert pointed out that “news interviews and talk show interviews with politicians” have been the exception to the rule. However, a new update from the FCC suggests that talk shows could be removed from the exception.
” On Jan. 21 of this year, a letter was released by FCC chairman and smug bowling pin, Brendan Carr. 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,’” Colbert said. “Well, sir, you’re chairman of the FCC, so FCC you. Because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself. Sir, ya smelt it ’cause ya dealt it. You are Dutch-ovening America’s airwaves.”
Colbert believes that this move is a way for the Trump administration to silence “anyone who says anything bad” about the president on TV. Colbert added that this new rule mostly affects him and his fellow late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, who has also spoken out against President Trump.
Instead of airing the footage on CBS, Colbert posted the interview with Talarico on YouTube.