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A comedian found himself unable to broadcast an interview with Democratic politician James Talarico due to network restrictions.
CBS intervened, preventing the segment from going on air.
According to the Federal Communications Commission’s guidelines, television networks in the U.S. must ensure they present a balanced range of political opinions.
CBS informed Colbert that he could only feature Talarico if he also extended invitations to all other candidates in the race.
However, Colbert pointed out that the FCC had historically not enforced this rule on talk shows.
“We can’t find one example of this rule being enforced for any talk show interview not only for my entire late-night career but for anybody’s late-night career going back to the ’60s,” he said.
“He had not gotten rid of it yet, but CBS generously did it for him,” Colbert said.
“(CBS) told me unilaterally that I had to abide by the equal time rules.”
CBS for issuing a statement disputing Colbert’s version of events.
“The Late Show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico,” the statement read.
“The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled.”
Colbert pushed back on the statement, taking particular umbrage that it was issued without his knowledge.
“I am well aware that we can book other guests,” he said.
“I didn’t need to be presented with that option.”
But Colbert said in order to comply with CBS’s new reading of the equal time rules, he was unable to show a photo of Crockett without also showing a photo of her opponents.
Colbert had uploaded his interview with Talarico to YouTube, where it has drawn 6.6 million views in little more than 24 hours.
That makes it Colbert’s most-watched YouTube interview in several years.
Carr denied the Trump administration tried to censor Colbert’s interview with Talarico.
“There was no censorship here at all,” he said.
“Every single broadcaster in this country has an obligation to be responsible for the programming that they choose to air, and they’re responsible whether it complies with FCC rules or not, and it doesn’t, and those individual broadcasters are also going to have a potential liability.”
The axing stunned the television industry given his show is typically the highest-rating show in its timeslow.
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