We’re here today to help out an old colleague call out blatant censorship and support the First Amendment. Late-night host Stephen Colbert found himself hard up against CBS lawyers on Monday. In an attempt to cozy up to the Trump administration, the network tried to stop Colbert from doing an interview Monday night.
When you read why, you’ll understand the reason everyone needs to see it.
CBS brass insisted Colbert cancel a guest scheduled for that night’s broadcast of “The Late Show.” Not only was Colbert to tell Texas State Representative James Talarico, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate, he was no longer invited to appear, Colbert was ordered not to talk about why the interview was canceled, nor was he to mention Talarico’s name or show his face.
Colbert didn’t take kindly to CBS’s bashing of free speech. So he ignored his bosses. At the start of Monday’s show, Colbert discussed the attempted censorship for six minutes, saying “Talarico” as often as possible. He did adhere to one command. Colbert didn’t show Talarico’s face, instead he used a photo of a look-alike. Colbert is a comedian after all.
As Colbert explained, this all happened because the Federal Communications Commission issued a letter in January saying it was considering changes to the equal time rule. The rule requires that broadcasts featuring political candidates must offer equal time to their opponents if requested. But news programs, late-night and daytime talk shows, and radio have long been exempt from the rule.
It is laughable to think Fox’s line-up of hosts are being instructed to cancel guests. No, Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman, is and has been targeting programming unflattering to Donald Trump.
Monday’s Colbert-FCC kerfuffle was not the first. Under pressure from Trump, Paramount, CBS’s parent company, announced last summer it was canceling “The Late Show.” Colbert’s last broadcast is scheduled to air at the end of May. It cited financial reasons, which is curious since “The Late Show” is the most watched show in late-night, averaging 2.5 million viewers per night.
Carr also persuaded Disney/ABC to suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and put “The View” on notice for its interview with Talarico. Trump himself said Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, two other late-night hosts, are next on the list.
The FCC has jurisdiction over broadcast television and radio, but not over streaming or cable outlets — a convenient loophole that Colbert used to his advantage. After the Monday broadcast concluded, he did interview Talarico. His team then uploaded it to “The Late Show” YouTube channel. Here it is:
As of this writing on Tuesday afternoon, Colbert’s interview of Talarico, which streamed on YouTube, as well as X, TikTok and Instagram, has been viewed well over 15 million times. That’s six times more views than if CBS had simply let Colbert interview the Texan on the broadcast.
What’s really going on here? Two things: First, Paramount Global is in a knockdown fight with Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. The last thing Paramount needs is to get on the bad side of the guy (Trump) making the decision about the Warner Bros. deal. Second, Republicans think Talarico would be tougher to beat than Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, his primary opponent. So they wanted to deny him a national platform.
Whatever the intent, the Republican strategy has backfired badly. As Talarico said, Trump is worried Democrats will flip Texas.
A tip of the Stetson to Mr. Colbert for standing up and speaking out.
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