On Tuesday night’s episode of “The Late Show,” Stephen Colbert criticized his home network, CBS, for releasing a statement denying that it canceled an interview with Congressman James Talarico from Monday night’s broadcast, a move he claims was done without his knowledge.
“The company put out this press release without ever talking to me,” Colbert said as he presented a written statement to the audience. “This statement is a surprisingly small piece of paper considering the number of issues it seeks to cover.”
Colbert then read the full statement released by CBS on Tuesday: “CBS did not prohibit ‘The Late Show’ from airing an interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show was not prohibited from airing an interview with Rep. James Talarico, and the program was not allowed to use the FCC’s equal time rules against two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett. “The Late Show” has decided to present the interview in a broadcast promotion through its YouTube channel rather than on the show, which may offer an equal time option. ”
He also said the statement read like it was “written by and possibly for lawyers.” Colbert joked that he would return the favor because CBS’ legal team seemed to “really” teach him how to do his job.
“You guys are very aware that you can book other guests,” Colbert said. “I didn’t have to be presented with that option. I’ve had Jasmine Crockett appear on my show twice. I can prove that, but the network won’t allow me to show a photo of her without including her opponent. So I think they should show this photo of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein instead.”
Colbert explained that “every word” of Monday night’s script was approved by CBS lawyers before his interview with Congressman Talarico was abruptly cut off. Colbert also claimed that he received more notes from his legal team during commercial breaks about what he could and couldn’t talk about about the canceled interview, something that had “never happened before” in 11 seasons of “The Late Show.”
“So, I don’t know what this is. Just to be clear, I’m not angry. I really don’t want an adversarial relationship with the network,” Colbert concluded. “As I said last night, in my interview with James Talarico — it’s on YouTube, watch it, it’s pretty good — I told him I’m grateful to have worked at CBS for the past 11 years and worked with George (Cheeks), David (Stapf), Amy (Reisenbach) and everyone at the network, Sheldons of all ages, Matrox of all genders. I’m really surprised this huge global company hasn’t stood up to these bullies.” ”
Colbert said Monday night that a CBS lawyer called “The Late Show” staff and told them “in no uncertain terms” that the interview with Congressman Talarico would not be aired in accordance with the FCC’s “equal time” rules. The “equal time” rule states that broadcast networks must provide equal airtime to politicians from both sides of the aisle during elections. But, Colbert said, “there’s been an exception to this rule for a long time” for talk shows like “The Late Show.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has not yet repealed the exception, but Colbert said CBS is “unilaterally enforcing it as if he had created the exception.” Colbert poked fun at the network’s own words about why it canceled “The Late Show,” saying the decision to cut off the interview with Congressman Talarico was “purely for economic reasons.”
Colbert went on to give his version of what happened, saying, “Let’s call it what it is. The Donald Trump administration wants to silence people who say bad things about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV. He’s like a toddler who spends too much time watching TV and gets cranky and ends up dropping stuff in his diaper. So it’s no surprise that the two people most affected by this threat are me and my friend Jimmy Kimmel.
