Sen Blumenthal opens inquiry into Paramount over Colbert interview

Amid controversy over “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert’s claim that he was banned from broadcasting his interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico last week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on Monday launched a formal investigation into CBS parent company Paramount, requesting “all records” related to the decision.

Talarico’s interview on “The Late Show” last week sparked controversy after Colbert accused CBS of blocking the interview because of the FCC’s crackdown on the long-standing candidate equal time rule.

CBS denies Colbert’s claim Fox News Digital last week, “THE LATE SHOW was not banned by CBS from airing the interview with Rep. James Talarico.”

In his letter to Paramount CEO David Ellison, privately published Blumenthal, the ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), requested all documents and communications related to the company’s decision not to air Colbert’s interview with Talarico, according to Status.

The senator argued that Paramount’s decision “raises the alarming possibility” that the company is “willing to silence free speech” in hopes of currying favor with the Trump administration.

“I write about Paramount’s apparent willingness to censor critical news and satire at the behest of the President, especially at a time when it is trying to acquire Warner Bros., in part by cultivating close ties to the White House,” the letter says.

“Paramount’s bowing to political pressure from Federal Communications Commission (‘FCC’) Chairman Brendan Carr and blocking Stephen Colbert’s broadcast of his interview with Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico raises the troubling possibility that Paramount is willing to silence free speech to gain political favor from the Trump Administration,” Blumenthal continues.

“I am therefore writing to request records and information regarding Paramount’s communications with the FCC and the White House and their interference in the editorial decisions of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the letter said. The statement was included.

JASMINE CROCKETT REVEALS COLBERT HAS NOT INVITED HER TO THE SHOW SINCE THE TALARICO INTERVIEW

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr speaks on stage during the 2025 Concordia Annual Summit at the Sheraton New York Times Square on September 22, 2025 in New York City. (John Lamparski/Getty Images for Concordia Annual Summit)

Blumenthal claimed that the “longstanding exception” to the equal time rule for “news interviews” has allowed programs like Colbert’s to “interview candidates without equal time for decades.”

Despite this apparent exception, the Senator argued that “CBS suddenly chose to use the FCC notice to pressure Mr. Colbert or demand that he stop broadcasting the interview.”

“FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s announcement clearly seeks to involve the FCC in broadcasters’ editorial decisions by declaring that it will enforce the equal time rule on what it deems to be programming ‘motivated by partisan purposes,’ targeting what Chairman Carr calls ‘fake news,'” Blumenthal said. he wrote.

“While the legality of the guidance is questionable, as FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez has noted, ‘it represents an escalation in the FCC’s ongoing campaign to censor and control speech,’ a position taken by other experts on FCC law,” he added.

The FCC announced in late January that it was providing guidance to broadcast networks to comply with the “statutory equal opportunity requirement,” including the broadcast of late-night and daytime talk shows, citing the Communications Act of 1934.

Blumenthal argued that the FCC’s “distortion of the equal time rule” represented “a radical departure from the intent of Congress and decades of decisions by Democrat- and Republican-led Commissions”; This includes rulings “exempting” Phil Donahue, Jerry Springer, Howard Stern and Jay Leno.

FCC CHAIRMAN DESTROYS COLBERT’S ‘HOAX’ AFTER CBS REFUSED TO BLOCK TALARICO INTERVIEW, SAYS THE MEDIA IS OFFENDED BY IT

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)

Later in the letter, the senator questioned why Paramount decided to “preemptively comply rather than defy the First Amendment and object to any enforcement efforts” and requested records of communications between the company and the FCC, including “any attempts” to comply with the rules.

When reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a Paramount spokesperson issued the following statement: “We have received the letter and are reviewing it carefully. We appreciate and respect the senator’s interest in this matter.”

“As CBS previously stated: ‘THE LATE SHOW was not banned by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The program was provided with legal guidance that broadcast could trigger the FCC equal time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and was offered options on how equal time could be met for the other candidates. Rather than potentially providing equal time, THE LATE SHOW decided to present the interview with live promotion on the air via its YouTube channel, rather than potentially providing equal time options,” he added.

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Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

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