Democratic Lawmakers Vow to Investigate CBS Spiking Colbert-Talarico Interview: ‘Censorship State’

When Stephen Colbert said CBS spiked his interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D), it drew swift and sharp condemnation from Democratic members of Congress, many of whom vowed to launch investigations into the Federal Communications Commission and President Donald Trump’s appointed chair, Brendan Carr.

Talarico is running in the Democratic primary for Senate in Texas against Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). On the GOP side, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is facing challenges from Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX). Early voting for all the primaries started on Tuesday and runs through Feb. 27, with Election Day on March 3. If any race has no candidate with a majority of votes, the runoff elections will be on May 26.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had scheduled Talarico for a chat with Colbert Tuesday evening, but CBS lawyers barred the show from airing it, pointing to concerns about the new federal guidance from the FCC and Carr about the “equal time” rule regarding political candidates, Colbert said.

Colbert lambasted the FCC, “smug bowling pin” Carr, and his own network brass for going along with what he described as an effort by the Trump administration to “silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV because all Trump does is watch TV,” comparing the president to “a toddler with too much screen time.”

The interview with Talarico was posted instead on YouTube, which is not subject to FCC regulation.

At the time of publication, the video (embedded at the top of this post) had over 2 million views in less than 24 hours. For context, The Late Show’s YouTube page shows several clips of Colbert’s monologues getting 1-2 million views but most guest interviews rack up numbers in the tens or hundreds of thousands. None of the clips from recent interviews with Hollywood stars Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, and Ian McKellen cracked a million views so far. Talarico’s tweet with a short clip from the interview has over 7.5 million views, and clips are getting millions of views on other platforms as well.

CBS issued a statement that claimed The Late Show “was not prohibited” from airing the Talarico interview, but merely “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,” adding that the 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.”

Democratic members of Congress were outraged by Talarico’s interview being blocked, with several calling for an investigation.

Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) accused Carr of “blocking Democratic candidates” as part of his “reign on unlawful censorship,” vowing that a “reckoning is coming,” including an investigation of “this outrage” by the Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which he is a member.

“This is a censorship state,” tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), suggesting Republicans were “silent” about this because they were “just happy to let Trump try to rig our politics because they benefit.”

A sampling of additional reactions from Democratic members of Congress is below.

Watch the video above via YouTube.

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