‘Capitulating AGAIN!’ CBS Under Fire for Pulling the Plug On Stephen Colbert Interview with James Talarico
CBS came under fire Tuesday after The Late Show host Stephen Colbert defied executives to reveal that the network had nixed his interview with senate hopeful and Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D).
In a scorching takedown of his own bosses at the network on Monday night, Colbert mocked CBS for “enforcing” Federal Communication Commission chair Brendan Carr’s new federal guidance on political airtime as one made out of fear of the Trump administration.
The host, whose show will be shut down in May, told viewers that network lawyers had called his team “directly” to block the interview with Talarico from airing on cable, relegating it to the show’s YouTube channel.
Colbert added that he was not even permitted to show an image of the Democratic lawmaker or mention his name, but openly ignored the latter demand to break news of the behind-the-scenes tussle to his audience.
Carr signalled in a January letter that exemption to the FCC’s “equal time” rule, which requires broadcasters to offer comparable airtime to rival candidates, may not automatically apply to entertainment talk shows, saying determinations could hinge on whether there was a “partisan motivation” in booking a candidate. Carr specifically called out ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and Colbert in a subsequent interview.
Colbert’s Monday night revelation, however, sparked online backlash, first of all from Talarico himself who posted a video of the interview early Tuesday and taunted President Donald Trump as “worried” the Democratic Party was going to “flip Texas”:
A number of journalists called out CBS for “capitulating” and the FCC for posing as “guest booker”:
Numerous left-leaning partisans also trashed the move:
CBS is yet to comment publicly on the matter.
Watch above via CBS.
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