A February 16, 2026, appearance by Texas Rep. James Talarico on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was recently pulled from the air. According to Talarico and Colbert, it’s all President Donald J. Trump’s fault… or is it?

            While it is always easy to point the finger at “Orange man, bad,” not everything can be blamed on the current Commander-in-Chief and his administration. While The Late Show host and the Texas Rep cry foul against the White House and the powers that be at CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), the network has contested the allegations. They claim they did not “pull” the interview; rather, their legal team advised that Talarico’s appearance could trigger “equal time” scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a broadcasting law that was enacted as early as the 1930’s (Candidates for Public Office, 2018).

            According to the “equal time” law, “section 315(a) of the Communications Act and Section 73.1941 of the Commission’s rules require that if a station allows a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use its facilities (i.e., make a positive identifiable appearance on the air for at least four seconds), it must give equal opportunities to all other candidates for that office to also use the station.  Equal opportunities apply to all commercial and non-commercial stations, as well as all legally qualified candidates for public office (federal, state, and local) throughout their campaigns.  Stations are prohibited from censoring ads that are paid for or sponsored by legally qualified candidates and their authorized organizations.  As a consequence, stations are protected from liability if these ads contain defamatory material.  Certain news-related programs are exempt from equal opportunities.  Therefore, an appearance by a legally qualified candidate on a bona fide newscast, regularly scheduled bona fide news interview program, certain documentaries, and on–the–spot coverage of a bona fide news event (including debates and political conventions) does not trigger equal opportunities for opposing candidates” (Federal Communications Commission, 2021).

            CBS said in a statement, “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” (Tapp, 2026).

            Simply put, rather than the show forcing legal and political obligations into its entertaining timeframe, it was just easier to pull the interview from the air and allow it to populate on other streaming networks like YouTube—and populate it did. The interview broke a longstanding YouTube record for Colbert and The Late Show, nearing 7 million views. While viral clips of late-night talk shows have held a steadier audience than declining televised programming, hosts like Colbert have also suffered drops in social media views (Martinez, 2026). Had the show aired as regularly scheduled programming, it may not have garnered as much attention for the late-night host and the Texas Rep. So, was this part of their plan?

            According to FCC chairman, Brenden Carr, “You had a Democrat candidate who understood the way the news media works, and he took advantage of all the viewers’ prior conceptions to run a hoax, apparently for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks. I think yesterday was a perfect encapsulation of why the American people have more trust in gas station sushi than they do in the national news media” (Sutherland, 2026).  

            Whether it was part of their plan or genuine outrage from Talarico and Colbert, the CBS executives abiding by the FCC’s “equal time” law, and The Late Show’s reaction to such regulations, allowed for a record-breaking audience to watch the interview. If Stephen Colbert were to blame Trump for pulling the piece, should he then thank him for record numbers? Trump, after all, did have a number 1 primetime T.V. show. He may be able to give Colbert some pointers and help make The Late Show great again.

References:

Candidates for Public Office, 47 U.S.C. § 315 (2018). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/315

Federal Communications Commission. (2021, September 13). The public and broadcasting. https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/public-and-broadcasting

Martinez, A. (2026, February 17). Stephen Colbert’s James Talarico video breaks 3-year-old YouTube record. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/stephen-colberts-james-talarico-video-breaks-3-year-old-youtube-record-11543027

Sutherland, C. (2026, February 18). Colbert hits back at CBS’ statement as row over Texas Democrat interview implodes. TIME. https://time.com/7379161/colbert-censorship-row-cbs-fcc-interview-texas-democrat-talarico/

Tapp, T. (2026, February 11). CBS denies Stephen Colbert was forced not to air Joe Talarico interview over FCC equal time rule. Variety. https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/cbs-denies-stephen-colbert-forced-not-air-talarico-interview-fcc-equal-time-1236665701/