Colbert accuses Trump administration of censorship after CBS pulls interview | Stephen Colbert
Talkshow host Stephen Colbert accused the Trump administration of censoring critics after CBS retracted an interview with a Texas Democrat on Monday, apparently at the behest of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Colbert told Late Show viewers that network lawyers also told him he was prohibited from talking about their refusal to air his interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who is seeking his party’s nomination to challenge Republican incumbent John Cornyn for the Senate seat in November.
“Because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about it, let’s talk about it,” he said, adding that CBS lawyers had previously said “guidance” from FCC chairman Brendan Carr to ensure equal air time on a talk show for all candidates in any political race.
“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.”
The interview with Talarico was continued and posted instead to: Colbert’s YouTube page.
The episode comes amid a renewed crackdown on media freedoms by the Trump administration, which in recent weeks has included an FBI raid on the home of a Washington Post reporter and the arrest of freelance journalist and former CNN host Don Lemon while covering a protest against immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
Colbert’s popular show will end in May following its cancellation on CBS. The network is now under the control of new owner and Trump ally David Ellison, whose actions have raised questions about CBS’ independence. Earlier this month, the FCC, reportedly at Carr’s direction, issued a investigation The View, which interviewed Talarico on February 2, was added to the View, which airs on ABC, due to a possible violation of the equal time rule imposed by the Communications Act of 1934.
The FCC has traditionally granted a good-faith exemption for news interviews, but Carr ruled in January that the commission would no longer do so for talk shows, arguing that “broadcast television stations have an obligation to operate in the public interest and not for any narrow partisan political interest.”
Colbert took exception to that comment Monday, telling his audience: “Sir, you’re the chairman of the FCC, so you’re the FCC. I think you’re motivated by partisan purposes, too.”
In the interview posted online, Talarico suggested the interference reported by the FCC was due to Trump’s falling popularity ratings and CBS’s alleged compliance with the Republican president’s rule. The network paid $16 million in defamation damages to Trump last July.
“I think Donald Trump is concerned that we are about to flip Texas,” he said. “This is the party that opposed cancel culture, and now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read,” he said.
“Corporate media executives are selling the first amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians.”
Talarico is in a tight race with Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett for the Democratic nomination to challenge Cornyn in the Nov. 3 election.
