Stephen Colbert Goes Against CBS’ Wishes and Discusses Pulled James Talarico Interview On-Air | Video

Stephen Colbert went against CBS’ wishes and discussed why his interview with Texas State Representative James Talarico would not air on “The Late Show.”

The late night host claimed that he received a call from his network’s lawyers, who said he could not have Talarico on the show nor could he share why with his viewers. However, Colbert disobeyed this order and issued a candid explanation — which included a dig at FCC chair Brendan Carr — to his broadcast audience Monday night.

“You know you know who is not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas State Representative James Talarico,” Colbert started off. “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.”

He continued: “So, you’ve you 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’s opponents on as well. It’s the FCC’s most time honored rule right after no nipples at the Super Bowl.”

As Colbert continued, he explained that there has “long been an exception for this rule, especially for talk show interviews with politicians.”

“But on January 21st of this year, a letter was released by FCC chairman and smug bowling pin Brendan Carr,” Colbert added. “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. Well, sir, you’re chairman of the FCC. So, FCCU, cause I think because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself, sir. Hey, you smelt it cuz you dealt it.” Watch his whole statement below.

Per Colbert, President Donald Trump’s 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,” Colbert added. “He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diapers. So, it’s no surprise that two of the people most affected by this threat are me and my friend Jimmy Kimmel.”

Colbert then shared that he still interviewed Talarico, but noted that the discussion will live on the show’s YouTube page.

“The network says I can’t give you URL or a QR code, but I promise you if you go to our YouTube page, you’ll find it,” he said. Colbert also shared that he wasn’t even allowed to show any pictures of Talarico on the broadcast, quipping, “That’s a stock photo we found when we Googled ‘not James Talarico.'”

You can find Colbert’s interview with Talarico below.

Before signing off his update, Colbert dished out some criticism for Carr, who he suggested was not coming down as hard on conservative broadcasters.

“Carr here claims he’s just getting partisanship off the airwaves, but the FCC, as I said, is also in charge of regulating radio broadcasts,” the comedian said. “And what would you know? Brendan Carr says right-wing talk radio isn’t a target of the FCC’s equal time notice.”

After his studio audience erupted into boos, Colbert went on: “No, no, I get this part. It makes sense. You can’t get rid of talk radio. What else would your angriest uncle do in traffic? Talk to your saddest aunt?”

Colbert further called out CBS by noting that his network was “unilaterally enforcing it” even though Carr simply said he was “thinking” about doing away with the talk show exception.

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.

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