FCC chair Brendan Carr’s threatened revisiting of the Equal Time rule has come to fruition, forcing CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to not air an interview with Democratic politician James Talarico.
Instead, Stephen Colbert’s sit-down with the Texas State Representative currently running for Senate was posted to the late-night program’s YouTube page—the URL for which Colbert was not allowed to share on-air.
Colbert detailed his run-in with CBS over the interview during Monday night’s broadcast.
“[James 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. “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 does not want us to talk about this… let’s talk about this.”
Last night was something I’ve not seen since the end of Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show — a television host actively mocking and challenging his employers and their decision making.
And what another, surreal sign of the times that this is what our comedians have to do, to be the voice and face of resistance. Yes, comedy speaks truth to power, but what does it say when its more effective than proper political leadership?
He chose to interview Talarico just the same, and as mentioned above, it is on YouTube. I’ve embedded it below.