Stephen Colbert says CBS barred James Talarico interview amid FCC crackdown

“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert claimed Monday that CBS banned him from interviewing a Democratic hopeful. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Colbert said CBS lawyers told the show he “absolutely” couldn’t interview Texas Senate candidate James Talarico and then told viewers “in some vague terms” that he couldn’t interview Talarico.

The liberal comedian attributed the move to enforcement of the FCC’s long-standing equal time rule, which allows all legally qualified candidates, regardless of party, to receive equal air time on broadcast networks. In last month’s announcement, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr claimed that liberal talk shows, long exempt from the rule, were “motivated by partisan purposes.”

“Well, sir, you are the chairman of the FCC, so you are the FCC,” Colbert said. “Because I think you are also motivated by partisan purposes.”

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“Let’s call it this – Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV because all Trump does is watch TV, okay? He’s like a toddler who spends too much screen time,” Colbert continued.

As Colbert later noted, Talarico’s recent appearance on ABC’s “The View” triggered an FCC investigation, sparking outrage at CBS. He later explained to his audience that his own Talarico interview would be posted on his show’s YouTube page, which is outside the FCC’s purview.

FCC CHAIRMAN HAS NO REGRETS ABOUT LAST YEAR’S DRAMATIC JIMMY KIMMEL DEGAN.

Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico’s appearance on “The View” triggered an FCC investigation into ABC’s daytime talk show. (ABC/TheView)

He also made fun of the fact that he wasn’t even allowed to show Talarico’s photo on TV, and admitted that the photo he kept showing throughout the episode wasn’t actually him.

“At this point, [Carr has] just released a letter saying he is considering eliminating the late-night exception. It hasn’t eliminated this yet, but my network is unilaterally enforcing it as if it had. But I can assure you that this decision was purely for financial reasons,” Colbert joked.

Representatives for CBS, Paramount and the FCC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced last month that his agency was strictly adhering to the equal-time nomination rule on broadcast network talk shows. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In an interview with Fox News Digital earlier this month, Carr shrugged off harsh criticism of FCC policies from Colbert and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, insisting that the agency enforces a rule “dating back to the 1950s” and that if Colbert and Kimmel don’t like the law, they should force Congress to change it.

“We will enforce this regulation under my supervision,” Carr said. “There are so many ways to distribute programs these days that you don’t have to comply with that regulation. If you’re a cable channel, it’s largely irrelevant. If you’re a podcaster, no. If you’re a broadcaster, no.”

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He continued, “So if Kimmel or Colbert want to continue to do their show and they don’t want to have to comply with that requirement or other public interest obligations like bans on broadcast hoaxing or news distortion, then they can go to a cable channel or a podcast or a streaming service and that’s fine. But if you want that broad distribution exclusivity on that public source of the broadcast TV spectrum, then that’s something they have to comply with.”“

Fox News Digital’s Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.