Stephen Colbert’s time as the host of The Late Show might be coming to a close, but the Emmy-winning host is not going to ride off into the sunset quietly.
It’s an interesting time to be a late-night host with the FCC breathing down the neck of the networks about potential changes to regulations in the TV landscape. At the forefront of the discussion is a proposed change to the equal time rules in place for TV talk shows on both daytime and late-night. While in the past, news content has been exempted from the equal time rule which requires broadcasters who feature qualified political candidates on their airwaves provide time to rivals, if requested, that rule has come under question with FCC Chair Brendan Carr indicating that shows like The Late Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live are not exempt from the equal time rule, which has been the case for decades now.
Following weeks of speculation over how, if at all, this might impact shows such as The Late Show, which is known for featuring many political guests, the impact of the FCC’s new guidance has finally been felt.
Colbert opened his show on Monday, February 16, revealing that CBS had refused to allow him to air an originally planned interview with Texas State Representative James Talarico. Not only did CBS inform Colbert that Talarico could not appear on the broadcast of the show, but Colbert alleged that CBS was told not to even mention cutting him from the show. Colbert, of course, disregarded the latter request.
“You know who is not one of my guests tonight: That’s Texas State Representative James Talarico. 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.”
As Colbert continued his monologue, he called out Carr’s motives, pointing out how the decision to drop the exemption for talk shows is motivated by partisan purposes by Carr. As Colbert bluntly put it, the administration “wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about [President Donald] Trump.”
“In his 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 FCC U because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself, sir. Smelt it because you dealt it. You are Dutch ovening America’s airwaves. Let’s just call this what it is. Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV.”
While CBS would not allow Colbert’s interview with Talarico to air during The Late Show’s February 16 episode, that didn’t stop him from releasing the interview via another platform.
“I decided to take Brendan Carr’s advice. I am going to interview James Talarico tonight, but it’s not going to be on The Late Show, it’s going to be on the Late Show’s YouTube page. The Network says, I can’t give you a URL or a QR code, but I promise you, if you go to our YouTube page, you’ll find it.”
Watch Colbert's unaired interview with Talario below:
After CBS refused to allow Colbert to air the interview as planned, the late-night host released his full interview with Talarico on YouTube where it has already amassed nearly 2 million views as of Tuesday afternoon – this despite Colbert not even being permitted to give the viewers a URL or QR code on the broadcast to access the interview.
Ironically, the interview with Talarico likely wouldn’t have garnered nearly as much attention as it has received if CBS had simply aired it as originally planned. Instead, it’s become headline news with outlets across the country reporting about CBS’s decision to pull the segment, leading to increased interest in the interview on YouTube.