In January, the FCC warned late-night shows that it would enforce its equal-time rule, which governs interviews with candidates for office. In short, the rules say that Democratic and Republican candidates need to be given equal time on these shows, as outlined in a letter from FCC Chair Brendan Carr:
Under section 315, if a broadcast station permits any legally qualified candidate for public office to use its facilities, it shall provide an equal opportunity to all other legally qualified candidates for that office.⁴ This statutory requirement and the corresponding FCC rules⁵ seek to ensure that no legally qualified candidate for office is unfairly given less access to the public airwaves than their opponent.
Now CBS has chosen not to air an interview Stephen Colbert did with Democratic candidate James Talarico, who is running for the Senate from Texas.
Colbert Says CBS Refused To Air His Interview With Democrat Candidate Fearing FCC Blowbackhttps://t.co/kviOdSbID3 pic.twitter.com/jCeiPQ72PU
— Forbes (@Forbes) February 17, 2026
Defending the move, the FCC chair said if Colbert and his fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel—who has also derided this proposed rule change—did not want to comply with this requirement, “then they can go to a cable channel or podcast or a streaming service.” The Late Show host played a clip of Carr’s remarks and said “Great idea, man whose job is to regulate broadcast TV, suggest everyone just leave broadcast TV.” Colbert, however, noted he decided to take Brendan Carr’s advice, adding, “I am going to interview James Talarico tonight, but it's not going to be on the Late Show. It's going to be on the Late Show's YouTube page.
Colbert also called out his own network after noting that the FCC notice has not yet outright eliminated the exception for talk shows. “Now, as I said, at this point, he's [Carr] just released a letter that says he's thinking about doing away with the exception for late night. He hasn't done away with it yet, but my network is unilaterally enforcing it as if he had.” As the audience booed CBS’s move, Colbert quipped, “I want to assure you, this decision is for purely financial reasons,” a reference to the reasoning CBS provided for cancelling his show. Colbert then pointed out that the FCC has opened an investigation into ABC’s daytime talk show The View after it aired an interview with Talarico.
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Keep in mind that Colbert could have invited the Republicans — John Cornyn, AG Ken Paxton, and Rep. Wesley Hunt — onto his show but it appears neither CBS nor Colbert did. Instead, his interview with Talarico was put on the show's YouTube page.
“The Democratic Senate candidate from Texas, due to the Federal Communications Commission’s recent decision to enforce its “equal time” mandate on talk shows.”
— Apple Lamps (@lamps_apple) February 17, 2026
So…. In other words… he’d rather not air him than give equal time to his opponent??? Lmfao
Bingo.
This was the inevitable end result of turning late night comedy talk shows into political forums. You do so much to help one political party, eventually the other party is going to demand equal time.
— Obi_1_D_AllKnowing (@obiopiah) February 17, 2026
For the record, Johnny Carson never had this problem.
Weird, that.
All he has to do is put a republican candidate on the air as well.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 17, 2026
So why doesn't he?
I predicted this was going to happen about three years ago that if late night talk shows are going to be forums for one political party messaging, then equal time laws are to come into… https://t.co/78bwSU0hv8
Talarico took the opportunity to lie about why his interview didn't air so he could blame Trump.
This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see.
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) February 17, 2026
His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert.
Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas. pic.twitter.com/BCev5jZbKc
No, the FCC didn't refuse anything. CBS made the decision because Colbert hadn't interviewed the Republican.
By the way, about flipping Texas blue? John Cornyn won reelection in 2020 with 53 percent of the vote, in a year when President Trump lost his reelection bid. And right now, The New York Times has every Republican running for the Senate ahead of both Jasmine Crockett and Talarico.
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