‘Late Night” host Stephen Colbert must have thought he had a three-fer with his “canceled” James Talarico interview. He could blame Donald Trump for censoring an opposing voice, get his name in the headlines before his show is (mercifully) canceled, and boost the prospects of his favorite Texas Senate candidate.
But almost immediately, his ruse fell apart.
Colbert told his audience that he’d planned to interview James Talarico – one of three Democrats competing in the primaries to run for senator in Texas – but CBS forced him to pull the interview.
“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,” he said.
Talarico, in what appears like a perfectly choreographed move with Colbert, added that “they were pressured by the most powerful man in the country to change their broadcast. And that should be alarming to all of us, whether we’re Democrats, Independents, or Republicans.”
Except it is all bull(expletive deleted).
As CBS officials quickly made clear, they never told Colbert to kill the interview. What they did tell him was that he could run afoul of a federal law that requires broadcasters to give equal time to other political candidates.
“The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett,” CBS said in a statement, “and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled.”
That left Colbert sputtering that the FCC hasn’t consistently enforced this rule.
That equal-time rule dates back nearly 100 years, when Congress decreed that broadcast networks had to provide political candidates who appeared on non-news programs the same amount of air time. Since the Texas primary is less than two weeks away, the Federal Communications Commission would have been within its legal rights to insist that Colbert give equal time to the two other Democratic candidates. (Network news has always been exempt from the equal-time rule.)
Colbert’s show isn’t funny. But it’s also definitely not a news program.
What’s even more amusing is Colbert’s claim of censorship.
The “canceled” interview aired on the CBS program’s YouTube channel and got 6 million views, which is nearly three times the number of people who tune into his low-rated show on a given night. And Talarico’s campaign says he raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours after the “cancelled” interview.
As a PR stunt, that is impressive.
But Colbert and Talarico must think the public is really stupid if they expect us to believe that Trump was trying to silence a critic.
The equal-time rule wouldn’t have required Colbert to provide airtime to a Republican – but to the two other Democrats running for Senate, one of whom, Jasmine Crockett, is also virulently anti-Trump.
Crockett herself said she was told that Colbert “could go ahead and move forward with the interview of James Talarico. They just needed to offer me equal time. I did not get a request from [Late Night] to go on.”
Colbert and Talarico got the publicity they wanted. But they managed to make themselves – and anyone who bought into their stunt – look like fools.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
