Stephen Colbert publicly called out his bosses at CBS for banning an upcoming interview from airing on his late-night show.
During the Monday, February 16, episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the host, 61, called out CBS and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for not allowing him to speak with Texas State Representative James Talarico, a Democrat, as originally planned.
“You know who is not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas State Representative James Talarico,” he said after introducing Jennifer Garner’s upcoming appearance on the show. “[James] 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.”
The comedian chose to address the issue live on his show, adding, “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.”
After speaking with his bosses, Colbert was told that the interview was scrapped due to new guidance from Carr. It was suggested that Colbert follow the “equal time” rule, which requires broadcasters to provide equal time to each political candidate running for office.
Colbert, meanwhile, pointed out that there have been exceptions for news and talk-show interviews with politicians.
“Well, FCC you,” Colbert fired back. “Let’s 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. He’s like a toddler with too much screen time.”
Colbert went on to claim that he and fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel were the most affected after Kimmel’s show was temporarily suspended from ABC after his comments following the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“I decided to take Brendan Carr’s advice,” Colbert said about his decision to still interview Talarico and post it on the Late Show YouTube channel. “The network says I can’t give you a URL or a QR code, but I promise you, if you go to our YouTube page, you [will] find it.”
CBS previously announced that The Late Show would end in May. CBS executives previously released a statement addressing their decision, claiming it was not “related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount” but was instead due to finances.
Colbert broke his silence about the shocking cancellation at the time.
“Before we start the show I want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season,” he announced during a taping in July 2025 as the audience booed. “I share your feelings. It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”
He continued: “I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. … And I’m grateful to the audience, you, who have joined us every night, in here, out there and all around the world.”
