Carr Dismisses Colbert Uproar As A 'hoax'

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr on Wednesday dismissed the furor surrounding Stephen Colbert’s unaired interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico — calling it a “hoax” to blame the Trump administration for CBS’ programming decisions.

Colbert contended on his show Monday that the network’s lawyers blocked him from airing the interview for fear it would run afoul of Carr’s recent crackdown on interviews with political candidates on late-night and daytime talk shows. (Colbert instead posted the interview to his show’s YouTube channel.)

Carr noted that Talarico, in particular, had blamed the FCC for keeping the interview off Monday night’s “Late Show” broadcast. And despite Colbert’s finger-pointing at CBS, the FCC chair argued “there was a clear path forward” for airing the interview, as the network said late Tuesday.

“You had a Democrat candidate who understood the way that the news media works, and he took advantage of all of your sort of prior conceptions to run a hoax, apparently for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks,” Carr said during a press conference following the agency’s open meeting Wednesday.

However, Colbert had explicitly blamed CBS’ lawyers, not the FCC, for blocking the interview — though he pinned the ultimate responsibility on the administration and Carr: “Let’s just call this what it is: Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV.”

Other critics, including Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, accused CBS of capitulating to the administration.

Headlines in major news outlets also overwhelmingly portrayed CBS as the immediate cause of the decision to block the interview from airing. “Colbert says CBS spiked planned James Talarico interview amid FCC pressure,” read Tuesday’s story in POLITICO, for example. CBS denied doing so Tuesday afternoon, hours after the wave of initial coverage.

At issue is guidance issued by Carr last month saying talk shows like Colbert’s are subject to longstanding FCC “equal time” rules, which require a broadcaster that offers air time to one candidate in a race to give equal opportunities to opposing candidates. The commission opened an investigation this month into ABC’s “The View” over an interview it ran with Talarico, and Carr previously complained about an appearance by Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on “Saturday Night Live” a few days before the 2024 election.

Congress exempted “bona fide news interviews” from the equal time requirements in the 1950s, and the FCC determined 20 years ago that Jay Leno’s interviews on “The Tonight Show” qualified for that carve-out. But Carr warned TV networks last month not to assume they qualify for the same exemption, including for programs “motivated by purely partisan political purposes.”

Carr defended his enforcement of the policy Wednesday.

“There is zero censorship with the equal time provision,” Carr said during the press conference. “It's about empowering people.”

Talarico shared his interview on social media Tuesday, writing: “This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see. His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert.” Talarico said his campaign raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours afterward.

CBS issued a statement Tuesday afternoon denying it had “prohibited” the interview from airing, saying Colbert’s show had been “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.”

Colbert clapped back at the network during Tuesday night’s program, saying “every word of my script last night was approved by CBS’ lawyers who, for the record, approve every script that goes on the air.”