Stephen Colbert is speaking out against his home network CBS, saying it was their decision to pull the plug on his interview with Democratic Party Rep. James Talarico.
The Late Show host says he was unaware of the decision. But the network says they didn’t block the interview; instead, they merely provided legal guidance on the show that could potentially trigger the FCC’s equal-time rule, which states that the networks must give equal airtime to both sides of the aisle.
“Without ever speaking to me, the company issued this press release,” the late-night host said, adding, “This statement is a surprisingly small piece of paper considering how many butts it is trying to cover,” adding that it seemed like it was “written by and, I think, for lawyers.”
Colbert also raised concerns about free speech after stating that CBS lawyers read the script before the show aired, even handing out more than notes on how he could and could not talk about the show.
“So I don’t know what this is about. To be clear, I’m not even angry. I really don’t want an adversarial relationship with the network.”
“As I said last night, in my interview with James Talarico – check it out, it’s on YouTube, it’s pretty good – I told him I’m grateful to have been at CBS and worked with George for the last eleven years. [Cheeks] and David [Stapf] and Amy [Reisenbach] and everyone on the network, the Sheldons of every age, the Matlocks of every ***.”
“I am so surprised that this giant global corporation is not standing up to these bullies,” Colbert concluded.
