Late-night host Stephen Colbert accused his network, CBS, of refusing to broadcast his interview with Texas Rep. James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, during Monday night’s airing of “The Late Show” for fear of running afoul of the Trump administration.
Colbert said CBS canceled Talarico’s appearance on air in light of guidance issued Jan. 21 by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, which directed daytime and late-night TV talk show hosts to offer equal airtime to all political candidates running for a given office. Talk shows have long been exempted from these “equal time” rules when conducting “bona fide news interviews,” allowing them to book political candidates without bringing on their opponents.
Talarico “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 in a segment explaining the cancelation. “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.”
The interview was set to air on Monday night’s show the day before the start of early voting for Texas’ March 3 primaries. Talarico is vying for the Senate Democratic nomination against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas.
It’s subservience, not fear on CBS’s part.
Good on Colbert for bringing a little Streisand effect to the party.
I though Colbert was cancelled from the first of this year?
I think he’s cancelled in May or thereabouts. It’s a very slow cancellation.
It’s subservience because of fear.
The only fear for Ellison and Weiss is decent people ending their genocide.
It’s not subservience. CBS is literally run by zio wackos. They’re steering the genocidal bus. This is their show.
After the announcement that he was cancelled I was irritated how silent he was in the issue. I guess it had legal reasons. So happy that he stopped giving a fuck.
Subservience to the FCC and the administration is the excuse. The real reason is that David Ellison is afraid the dem might win.