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.
Banning something is a sure fire way to give it oxygen. Streisand effect
The problem Trump has in doing this type of suppression is that it gains more attention and riles people up more than if he had let the interview air. Sure the interview might have said things he didn’t want to be said, but now he has made this a much bigger issue and he looks weak because he is scared at the mere prospect of some words being uttered.
Depends. Stephen says he was told not to tell anyone on air that they couldn’t air it. Assuming that’s true, and he had decided to comply, no one really would have known. It’s only through his (presumed) bravery that we’ve all seen it.
I’m sure there would have been articles asking why there was an interview uploaded to the YouTube channel and pinned right at the top that wasn’t aired on the channel. It wouldn’t have been under the radar either way, but it would have taken longer to be reported this widely.
But I do get your point.
Well not taking anything from him, but with so many people involved in a TV production I think it would have come out in some form that dissent was being suppressed.
Yep, and Colbert has no reason to pull any punches either. They already canceled his show to appease the administration. Why would Stephen hesitate to tell the world every time CBS bends the knee?
Good on him for calling out every time they act as state propaganda and not a news network.
If they cancel the show earlier they can’t pretend to be impartial, and Colbert gets paid the rest of his contract without having to do any work.
Plus they’ll be in the real news for a week lol
i wouldn’t have watched the interview if cbs hadn’t cancelled it
Same
And, in hindsight, I’m glad I did. That guy has the right idea.
He said ‘It’s not left vs right, it’s top vs bottom’.
Exactly what we need our politicians to be acknowledging
No wonder the Trump regime didn’t want it aired. Nothing is more dangerous to them than pointing out that the culture war is fabricated to distract from the class war so the poors don’t realize that the billionaires are their enemies, not immigrants and trans people.
It’s a clever bit of marketing to queue this up and make a big stir and drum about being censored.
The allegations feel… thin? This is a primary race in a state that’s been sandbagged for Republicans for decades. But as a piece of campaign material, it’s par excellance. More people are going to see the clip passed around online than ever would watching it broadcast on a Monday night.
I doubt this was anyone’s serious intent. Republicans pull this gag all the time. They deliberately try and trick the alarm for censorship and then scream ten times as loud “LOOK AT ME! I’VE BEEN CENSORED! CHECK OUT THE VIDEO THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO SEE!”
Liberals (or, at least, this one guy fighting for his life in a deep red state) finally seem to have caught up to the game.