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Article written by Avalon Stewart, Feb 18th 2026
Late Night Cover Up
Stephen Colbert and the FCC
As you may or may not be aware, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season with Paramount CEO George Cheeks stating, “This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount”, while it was obvious to Colbert and viewers that there were far more political reasons behind the network’s decision.
“The Late Show” host pulled out a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday. “Now, clearly, this statement was written by and, I’m guessing, for lawyers.”Credit...CBS
Although the days are getting shorter for the Late Show, that hasn’t stopped outside actors from attempting to silence Colbert. On the night of the 16th, he had planned to broadcast an interview with James Talarico, a member of the Texas state House who is running in a heated Democratic primary for United States Senate. But it was not to be. What viewers got on Monday night was Stephen Colbert blasting CBS for their decision to kill the intended interview, with them citing concerns that going through with it would raise the ire of the Trump administration.
The mechanics behind this were the Federal Communications Commission’s equal time provision, which requires radio and broadcast programs to offer equal time to all candidates in a particular race. News programs have long been exempt from the rule, which has generally also been extended to talk shows. But guidance issued by FCC Chair Brendan Carr in January signaled the agency could go after late-night talk hosts or shows like the “The View” by citing the provision. During his show, Colbert had a message for Carr stating, “Carr said he was thinking about dropping the exception for talk shows because he said that some of them were motivated by partisan purposes,” Colbert told his audience. “Well, sir, you’re chairman of the FCC. So FCC you. Because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself”. Colbert noted that he had put Talarico’s interview on the “Late Show” YouTube channel and the video has been seen more than 6.9 million times.
Texas Senate Democratic candidate James Talarico spoke with Stephen Colbert on Feb. 16, 2026, after Colbert said his network blocked the show from airing the interview. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert/YouTube
CBS, in its statement on Tuesday afternoon, denied Colbert’s main allegation that it had barred the interview from being aired. “The Late Show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico,” the network said. Colbert replied to the network’s statement on Tuesday by stating on air, “We made some jokes—that’s what they pay me for—and I was ready to let it go, until a few hours ago, when my group chat blowed up because, without ever talking to me, the corporation put out this press release,”. He pulled out a statement issued by CBS on Tuesday, which he called “a surprisingly small piece of paper considering how many butts it’s trying to cover”.
Colbert then went on to explain that, “They know damn well that every word of my script last night was approved by CBS lawyers who, for the record, approved every script that goes on the air”, continuing, “I got called backstage to get more notes from these lawyers. Something that had never, ever happened before, and they told us the language they wanted me to use to describe that equal time exception, and I used that language,” Colbert said. “So I don’t know what this is about”.
He ended by clarifying, “Now, that decision, I want to be clear, is their right, just like I have the right to talk about their decision on air last night,”.
Avalon Stewart
Avalon Stewart
Avalon is from Mount Vernon, Washington. She is a Freshman at Whitman College and plans to major in Psychology and Politics. In high school she competed in Speech and Debate all four years and even was state champ in Congressional Debate. She is passionate about politics and the process of delivering news that people can trust.
Lead editor for The Lamplight
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