Well, if the powers that be over at CBS and the Federal Communications Commission were hoping to avoid giving State Rep. James Talarico, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Texas seat long held by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, any time in the spotlight, their failure has only become more glaring as the fallout continues.
On Monday, Talarico, who is running against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the neck-and-neck Texas Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, was slated to make an appearance on the broadcast of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show on CBS. But his interview never made it to the airwaves.
Before the episode had even taped, CBS lawyers told Colbert and his team, according to Colbert, “in no uncertain terms” that an interview with Talarico, scheduled on the evening before early voting was set to begin in Texas on Tuesday, would not appear on the network broadcast of the show. (CBS disputed this account, contending in a statement issued Tuesday that the network’s lawyers were “only providing legal guidance,” a claim that Colbert in his turn vividly disputed on his show on Tuesday night.)
Why? Well, as with so many late-night controversies these days, it all goes back to the Trump administration.
In justifying their prohibition that, according to Colbert, he couldn’t even mention Talarico or show his picture on the Monday night broadcast, network lawyers pointed to regulatory guidance issued by the administration’s FCC in January regarding the “equal time” rule which requires that any time a political candidate gets time on a broadcast, the network must also provide the aforementioned equal time to their opponent.
It’s not news at this point that President Donald Trump really isn’t a fan of late-night talk shows whose hosts often criticize him, a stance that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has made it clear in recent months that he shares with the president.
Ignoring the FCC’s own 2006 ruling that exempted Jay Leno’s Tonight Show and other talk shows from the “equal time” requirement, the new guidance dismissed the fact that there has long been an exception to this rule for news programming, including news broadcasts, daytime talk shows and late-night television shows like Colbert’s. The memo stated that “the FCC has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption.”
In the wake of the new guidance, Carr recently spelled out why he had issued it. “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,” he stated on social media last month. “Today, the F.C.C. reminded them of their obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities.”
But it’s intriguing to note that the FCC seems most intent on applying this new rule when it comes to appearances by Talarico. (Maybe this has something to do with the fact that Cornyn, who is less popular with the MAGA crowd, is currently in the fight of his political life in a challenge for the GOP nomination from Wesley Hunt and MAGA-tastic-but-complicated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is toting settled corruption charges and a messy divorce, campaign baggage that could hinder him in a state wide race? Maybe not.)
Shortly after Talarico appeared on daytime talk show The View earlier this month it was widely reported that the FCC had opened an investigation over his appearance. Apparently, the purported concern is whether he had as much time as his Democratic opponent Crockett, as Crockett herself noted in an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday.
Crockett also clarified that her campaign has no issue with Talarico appearing on either show since she has been on both Colbert and The View. “We’ve never run into an issue with Colbert,” she said. In fact, she noted wryly that not appearing on the show has probably “given my opponent the boost he was looking for.”
So how did the interview get out there?
In a clever workaround, Colbert — whose show is ending in May despite being the top late-night show in ratings and recent Emmy win — interviewed Talarico and posted the video on the show’s YouTube page, skirting the equal time rule since the FCC doesn’t control the internet. In a blistering segment explaining why Talarico’s interview would not be on the show, Colbert noted that CBS had explicitly forbidden him from sharing a link or QR code to the interview during his broadcast.
Despite this prohibition, people clearly managed to find the video. While Colbert’s nightly show pulls in about 2.3 million viewers on average, as of Wednesday the Talarico interview has been viewed more than 5.4 million times, and counting.
In fact, trying to keep Talarico off the airwaves didn’t prevent the interview from occurring, which must be a blow to those who were wanting to avoid boosting Talarico’s profile and this Senate primary race in general.
On Wednesday Talarico’s campaign announced that they have pulled in more than $2.5 million in donations in the past 24 hours.