Stephen Colbert Slams CBS, FCC for Demanding He Cancel Texas Politician’s Guest Appearance

Stephen Colbert is breaking the rules to make sure his guest James Talarico gets the attention he deserves.

“You know who is not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas state representative James Talarico,” Colbert, 61, said during the Monday, February 16, episode of his talk show, Late Show With Stephen Colbert. “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.”

He added, “And because my network clearly does not want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”

The comedian explained that talk shows had long been exempt from the “equal time rule,” which requires broadcast networks to allow opposing political candidates to have the same amount of airtime. “How else were voters supposed to know back in ’92 that Bill Clinton sucked at saxophone?” Colbert quipped.

But earlier this year, FCC chairman Brendan Carr moved to revoke the talk show exemption.

“It’s no surprise that two of the people most affected by this letter, me and my friend Jimmy Kimmel — when this letter dropped, we both talked about this letter on air,” Colbert added, pointedly noting that Carr had not targeted conservative talk radio.

Carr later slammed the hosts, claiming that if they don’t want to comply with his demands, they can “go to a cable channel, or podcast, or streaming service.”

Colbert took Carr’s advice and streamed his interview with Talarico on social media.

“At this point, [Carr has] just released a letter that says he’s thinking about doing away with the exception for late night,” Colbert also noted. “He hasn’t done away with it yet, but my network is unilaterally enforcing it as if he had.”

“This decision is for purely financial reasons,” he added, an apparent jab referencing CBS’s explanation for canceling his show.

Colbert has nothing to lose by breaking with his network as his long-running talk show comes to an end in May. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will air its last episode on May 21.