The Late Show host Stephen Colbert has disclosed that CBS prohibited him from airing a conversation with James Talarico, a Texas Democratic representative. In his opening monologue on Monday night, Colbert shared that the network's legal team explicitly informed him that Talarico could not appear on the program. Consequently, Colbert opted to upload the interview on YouTube instead, shortly after news emerged about Anderson Cooper's departure from his role as a 60 Minutes correspondent.
Colbert remarked, "He [Talarico] was scheduled to join us, but our network's lawyers made it clear that we could not include him in the broadcast. I was also instructed not to mention that he wouldn't be appearing."
A CBS spokesperson, Phil Gonzales, provided a statement to The Verge, asserting that Colbert was not blocked from airing the interview, a claim that was also communicated to other media outlets. However, Gonzales declined to attribute the statement to a specific source.
Colbert, whose late-night show is set to conclude in May, referred to the Federal Communications Commission's equal time rule, which mandates that political candidates receive equal airtime during election cycles. Talarico is currently campaigning for a Senate position.
As noted by Deadline, news interviews traditionally fall outside the scope of this rule, with talk shows generally included in this exemption. However, recent guidance from FCC Chair Brendan Carr suggested that late-night and daytime talk shows should adhere to the rule as well. Carr stated, "If you're fake news, you're not going to qualify for the bona fide news exemption."
Colbert mentioned that while Carr has not eliminated the exemption, CBS is enforcing it as if it had been revoked. Last year, Paramount appointed Bari Weiss, the founder of The Free Press, as the editor-in-chief of CBS News. Colbert expressed concern that the current administration aims to silence critical voices on television.
Update, February 17th: Additional details regarding the statement from CBS have been included.
