Stephen Colbert and CBS have a slight difference of opinion when it comes to what happened last night.
CBS has pushed back at The Late Show host’s claims that it stopped him from broadcasting an interview with Texas state representative James Talarico on Monday night’s show.
“The Late Show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. 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. The Late Show decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options,” the company noted in a statement.
This goes against the way that Colbert told it on the show.
“[James Talarico] was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” Colbert said. “Then, I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on and because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this: let’s talk about this.”
The interview subsequently aired on The Late Show’s YouTube page.
All of this comes after FCC Chair Brendan Carr issued guidance in January, noting that Congress put “protections in place to ensure equal access to broadcast station facilities for legally qualified candidates”.
Talarico is running for Texas Senate and is a “legally qualified candidate” as the primary is now open as he faces off against Jasmine Crockett and Ahmad Hassan in the Democratic primary, which will be held on March 3.