Colbert says CBS scrapped his James Talarico interview after Trump FCC’s threats

The Front Bench panel discusses CBS scrapping 'Late Show' host Stephen Colbert's interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.

Stephen Colbert taped a “Late Show” interview with James Talarico, a candidate in the Democratic Senate primary in Texas, on Monday. But CBS lawyers intervened before the interview could air on TV.

“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 told his viewers Monday night.

The shocking action seems to be a result of the Trump administration’s intensifying pressure against broadcast TV networks.

The FCC, which regulates local stations operated by broadcasters like CBS, recently issued new guidance about an old regulation known as the “equal time” rule.

The rule requires stations to give equal airtime to all legally qualified candidates for public office — if one is featured, his or her rivals have to be given time, too.

There are big exemptions for news coverage, and for the past two decades that exemption has also been thought to apply to late night and daytime talk shows.

But FCC chair Brendan Carr is rejecting that thinking. Last month, he said stations should no longer assume that shows like Colbert’s are exempted from the rule.

“If you’re fake news, you’re not going to qualify for the bona fide news exemption,” Carr said at a press conference in January.

The FCC threats against talk shows

As Carr’s use of the phrase “fake news” indicates, he is a staunch ally of President Trump. He has been harshly critical of talk shows like ABC’s “The View” that feature liberal political commentary.

But the FCC’s enforcement powers are limited. The lone Democratic commissioner at the FCC, Anna Gomez, said Carr’s claims were misleading: “The FCC has not adopted any new regulation, interpretation, or Commission-level policy altering the long-standing news exemption or equal time framework.”

A source at the FCC reiterated that point, saying, “Once again here, the threat is the point.”

“The point is to force shows and networks to second-guess their decisions in light of this ‘new’ guidance,” the source told CNN on condition of anonymity.

After Talarico appeared on “The View” earlier this month, Reuters reported that the FCC was opening an investigation into the possible “equal time” violation.

Gomez predicted that no meaningful action would be taken, though, and called it another instance of “government intimidation” against the media.

Colbert’s comments on Monday night indicate that he sees the same thing happening.

“Let’s just call this what it is,” he said. “Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV. Because all Trump does is watch TV.”

He also had pointed words for Carr: “Sir, you’re chairman of the FCC, so FCC you.”

‘Trying to control what we watch’

Colbert’s show posted the Talarico interview on YouTube as an “online-only exclusive” since the FCC rules don’t apply to streaming.

In the interview, Talarico called out the FCC’s conduct, albeit not by name.

Talarico said Republicans “ran against cancel culture, and now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read. And this is the most dangerous kind of cancel culture, the kind that comes from the top.”

“They went after ‘The View’ because I went on there,” Talarico continued. “They went after Jimmy Kimmel for telling a joke they didn’t like. They went after you for telling the truth about Paramount’s bribe to Donald Trump.”

Last year the previous owners of Paramount paid US$16 million to resolve an extraordinary lawsuit filed by Trump over a “60 Minutes” news report he didn’t like.

The funds were allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, mirroring a settlement agreement that Disney’s ABC struck with Trump earlier.

Critics of the settlement described it as a bribe because Paramount was trying to win Trump administration approval for a media mega-merger at the time.

The FCC allowed the merger to move forward just a few weeks after Paramount struck the settlement deal, though Carr insisted the matters were not connected.

CBS and Carr have not responded to CNN’s requests for comment about Colbert’s on-air assertions Monday night.

By Brian Stelter, CNN