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Stephen Colbert defied CBS by whining on air about network nixing his interview with a Democrat

February 17, 2026 | | Print Article

Late-night host Stephen Colbert defied CBS on Monday by whining on air about the network nixing his interview with a Democrat.

Colbert interviewed Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who’s running for Senate, only for CBS to tell him that they couldn’t broadcast it.

“You know who is not one of my guests tonight?” he rhetorically asked his audience during Monday’s episode of his CBS talk show. “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 does not want us to talk about this … let’s talk about this,” he added.

(Video Credit: Stephen Colbert)

Colbert went on to kvetch about the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr’s new “equal time” rule.

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In late January, Carr issued regulatory guidance warning broadcasters that political candidates from each side of the political aisle must get equal airtime.

While the requirement for equal time for both sides has always existed, shows like “The Late Show” have long benefitted from a “bona fide” exception allowing them to bypass this rule. But no longer.

“Importantly, the FCC has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late-night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption,” Carr wrote in his guidance.

“Moreover, a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under long-standing FCC precedent,” he added.

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Then, in early February, Carr upped the ante by launching an investigation into “The View” for hosting Talarico without featuring an opposing voice from the Republican Party.

Addressing Carr directly on Monday’s edition of “The Late Show,” Colbert accused him of political targeting.

“I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself,” he said. “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. Okay?”

“He’s like a toddler with too much screen time. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diapers. So, it’s no surprise. FCC you!” he added.

Colbert also admitted to defying CBS News by publishing his interview with Talarico on YouTube. Talarico has himself published a short snippet from the interview on the social media platform X:

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In the full interview, Talarico complained about alleged rising censorship from the Trump administration.

“I think that Donald Trump is worried that we’re about to flip Texas, and, Stephen, this is the party that ran against cancel culture,” he said. “And now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read.”

“They went after ‘The View’ because I went on there. 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. Corporate media executives are selling out the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians,” he added.

Critics have slammed him for spouting total “bullshit.”

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Vivek Saxena
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