The battle between Stephen Colbert continued Tuesday night after CBS pulled Colbert’s interview with Texas state representative James Talarico (D).
Talarico was supposed to be on “The Late Show”Monday, but the airing was nixed, a move Colbert was calculated by CBS, per Mediaite.
On Tuesday, Colbert said CBS lawyers of warned him “in no uncertain terms” that he “could not have” Talarico “on the broadcast.” The state lawmaker is running in the Democratic primary for a U.S.Senate seat in Texas,
Colbert said the advice referenced guidance from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr, who said talk shows could be subject to the “equal time” rule.
“The Late Show” posted the full interview with Talarico on its YouTube channel.
CBS issued it’s own statement Tuesday, denying Colbert’s claim.
“‘THE LATE SHOW’ was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled,” the statement read.
“THE LATE SHOW” decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options,” the statement continued.
Colbert started Tuesday night’s show by holding up a printed copy of the statement and revealed that “every word” of his Monday night script calling out the nixing of the Talarico interview was “approved by CBS’s lawyers who for the record approve every script that goes on the air.”
“In fact, between the monologue I did last night and before I did the second act talking about this issue, I had to go backstage. I got called backstage to get more notes from these lawyers – something that had never ever happened before – and they told us the language they wanted me to use to describe that equal time exception,” he said. “And I used that language. So, I don’t know what this is about.”
Colbert said he was “not even mad,” adding, “I really don’t want an adversarial relationship with the network. I’ve never had one.”
“I’m just so surprised that this giant global corporation would not stand up to these bullies,” he continued. “Come on, you’re Paramount! No! You’re more than that, you’re Paramount Plus.”
“Plus what?” Colbert said as the audience cheered. “I guess we’re all going to find out pretty soon.”
“And for the lawyers to release this without even talking to me is really surprising. I don’t even know what to do with this crap,” he said before sealing the printed statement in a plastic bag and dropping it in the trash.
