Colbert’s false censorship claims boost Talarico fundraising by $2.5M
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Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico’s campaign is $2.5 million richer this week and inched closer to victory after Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’ “The Late Show,” made up a ridiculous lie about being censored by President Trump.
It took a few days for the dust to settle, but we now have a clear picture of what happened, and it’s as bad as it gets. In fact, this would probably be a fireable offense if the ratings weren’t scheduled for Colbert to get the axe in May.
Catch Stephen Colbert during his “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” appearance on July 21, 2025. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
According to Colbert’s version of events, which fell apart faster than a house of cards in a wind tunnel, just minutes before he was set to interview Talarico on Monday, CBS lawyers told him he couldn’t air the conversation. From where? Because of the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission’s new rules regarding equal time.
A curmudgeonly Colbert said he shouldn’t have told his audience that he was being censored, but that he’d still do the interview, donning his free-speech superhero cape, defying his bosses, and posting it on YouTube.
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The only problem with all of this is that, according to both CBS and the FCC, no one told Colbert that the interview could not be aired. He just made it up. All that happened was CBS lawyers told him that if he ran Talarico, he might have to give equal time to his Demcorat primary opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Tex.
It’s not clear why Colbert would have a problem keeping Crockett in office, unless perhaps he and his friends in high places think the Bible-reading white schoolboy is more electable than the finger-snapping spoiled Black woman.
Talarico began fundraising within minutes of Colbert’s lie and made $2.5 million. Did I mention that early voting in Texas started on Tuesday, the day after this hypocritical fiasco?
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It was truly remarkable to watch. Even on Wednesday, knowing full well that Colbert had not been censored, CNN held a panel arguing that the Trump administration’s pressure on CBS had backfired due to fundraising and the five million views the video had received on YouTube.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, told “The View” that President Trump is trying to be the Nicolás Maduro of the United States on Jan. 6, 2026. (ABC/TheView)
However, there was no pressure on Colbert from the Trump administration. As FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham, “CBS was very clear that Colbert could do whatever interview he wanted with that political candidate. They just said you might have to comply with equal time… But instead of doing that, they claimed they were victimized.”
All the FCC said without taking action was that it could enforce equal time rules for talk shows; It’s something he hasn’t done in the past, but considering how skewed late-night comedy and daytime talk has become, it’s worth considering.
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ABC’s mid-morning girl joke “The View” had 128 liberal guests in 2025 and only two conservatives; One of them is Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is not actually a conservative. It was actress Cheryl Hines, who had just married.
Frankly, the reason equal time rules don’t apply to talk shows is that they never had to be, because Johnny Carson, Tom Snyder, and Phil Donohue didn’t turn their shows into non-stop political commercials. Obviously this has changed.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called the uproar surrounding “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert’s interview with Texas Democrat James Talarico a “hoax.” (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Scott Kowalchyk ©2026 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Colbert made it clear that he was consciously using his “comedy show” to push a political agenda, in this case to the benefit of James Talarico and the detriment of Jasmine Crockett, who is now in the awkward position of defending the Trump administration.
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However, no matter how you look at the equal time rule, it’s clear that Colbert was clearly lying when he said it was being used to prohibit his interview from being taken off the air. Unfortunately, this is a lie that could take many Democratic voters to their death beds.
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There were two major victims of Colbert’s betrayal; The first was Crockett, who discovered that he was a little too brown and arrogant towards the rich White men who still controlled the liberal media and politics.
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The second victim was the average citizen who was deprived of money by Colbert’s lies to fill Talarico’s coffers.
Luckily we only have two more months to deal with Colbert’s nonsense and lies, at least in late night on CBS. After that, he can go to YouTube and interview whoever he wants, just like he did Monday night.
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