Colbert Hosts Jon Ossoff in First Political Interview Since Talarico Dust-Up — Senator Fumes About ‘Censorship’ in ‘Trump’s America’ 

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) joined The Late Show host Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night to discuss alleged censorship by the Trump administration — just days after Colbert accused CBS of bowing to FCC pressure to can his interview with U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D).

On Monday, Colbert announced that CBS lawyers had prevented him from having Talarico on the show due to the FCC’s “equal time provision” for political candidates. CBS hit back in a statement, saying it didn’t “prohibit” anything, instead maintaining that “The show was provided legal guidance…and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled.”

On Wednesday’s show, Colbert asked Ossoff about his pre-Senate position investigating international corruption.

“So first of all, I led a team, ran a business, that exposed official corruption, war crimes, abuses of power all over the world. We worked with people who smuggled the truth out of repressive societies with authoritarian governments, places where opposition figures were rounded up and arrested. Places where journalists critical of the government faced official persecution, places where television hosts had to deal with official censorship,” said Ossoff.

The audience tittered at that line as Colbert pretended to take notes.

“And I’ll just say that more and more, Donald Trump’s America reminds me of those places and those societies and that should chill us all to the bone,” he continued to cheers and applause.

“But as for why,” Ossoff continued, “I think Donald Trump’s rise — Donald Trump himself — is a symptom of a deeper disease in our society. I mean, how is it that a demagogue who promised to tear it all down was twice elected to the presidency on false promises? It’s because the system really is rigged. He’s not unrigging it — he’s re-rigging it for himself.”

Deadline explained why the Ossoff interview was okay when the Talarico interview allegedly was not.

According to FCC guidance issued by commissioner Brendan Carr:

Talarico, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, is a “legally qualified candidate,” facing Jasmine Crockett and Ahmad Hassan in the Democratic primary, which will be held March 3.

Ossoff, however, isn’t a “legally qualified candidate” — yet. While the former documentary filmmaker, who was first elected to the seat in 2021, has announced he is running for reelection, the qualifying period for the primaries in Georgia doesn’t kick in until the start of March. This means he is free to appear on The Late Show without CBS having to invite his rivals on as well, if they asked, of course.

Watch the clip above via CBS.

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