Texas Senate candidate James Talarico criticized CBS and the FCC after his interview on The Late Show went unaired due to concerns about the equal time rule.
Talarico appeared at a campaign rally in Austin on the first day of early voting in the Democratic primary, then later Tuesday, as a guest on MS NOW’s The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell.
At the rally, the 36-year-old accused the television network and the federal agency of having “colluded” to scuttle his chat with Stephen Colbert.
The FCC “colluded with corporate media executives at CBS,” the Democratic state representative said, “but I think it’s safe to say that their plan backfired.”
Talarico’s 15-minute Late Show interview was posted on YouTube, and has amassed over 3.8 million views as of 11 p.m. EST Tuesday. Colbert’s January broadcasts averaged about 2.6 million.
Talarico added of Monday’s abrupt change: “This is the most dangerous kind of cancel culture.”
Talarico made similar comments to MS NOW anchor Lawrence O’Donnell after the rally.
“It should be troubling to all of us, regardless of our political affiliations or our political beliefs, that the most powerful people in the country, the most powerful politicians and the most powerful corporate executives are working together to sell out the First Amendment, to sell out our freedom of speech in order to protect their own power and their own wealth,” he said on The Last Word.
The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS, the FCC and the White House for comment.
On Monday’s show, Colbert claimed that CBS’s lawyers told him—“in no uncertain terms”—that Talarico could be on the televised broadcast. CBS has disputed that characterization.
“The Late Show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico,” the network wrote in an emailed statement. “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 FCC gave new guidance in January stating that talk shows on local broadcast networks would no longer be considered exempt from the equal time rule like “bona fide news” programming is.
“For years, legacy TV networks assumed that their late-night & daytime talk shows qualify as ‘bona fide news’ programs — even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, an appointee of Donald Trump, wrote on X last month. “Today, the F.C.C. reminded them of their obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities.”
