February 18, 2026

JIM GERAGHTY: Stephen Colbert and James Talarico Are Lying to You.

The equal-time rule was part of the Communications Act of 1934. It states, “If any licensee shall permit any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station.”

Note that this applies to broadcast television stations include NBC, CBS, and ABC. The FCC’s equal time rule does not apply to cable channels like Fox News Channel, CNN, or MSNOW, because they don’t go out over public airwaves. (There are professional political pundits out there who don’t know or understand that distinction.)

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You can decide that the equal-time rule is stupid, but no broadcast television network is allowed to cite a “well, that’s stupid” provision when appealing a fine or punishment from the commission.

Texas holds its primaries on March 3, less than two weeks away. State Representative James Talarico and Representative Jasmine Crockett are the two best-known Senate candidates on the Democratic side, and different polls will give you different results on which one is ahead. A little-known third candidate, Ahmad Hassan, is also running for the Democratic nomination.

Stephen Colbert, the soon-to-be canceled $20 million per year host of The Late Show on CBS, wanted to have Talarico on his program Monday night.

But Colbert did not air his interview. Viewers watching at home saw Colbert at his desk, delivering a monologue:

[Talarico] was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast. Then I was told in some uncertain terms that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.

Colbert continued:

But on January 21st of this year, a letter was released by FCC chairman and smug bowling pin Brendan Carr. In this letter, Carr said he was thinking about dropping the exception for talk shows because he said some of them were motivated by partisan purposes. Well, sir, you’re chairman of the FCC. So, FCC-U.

I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself, sir. Hey, you smelt it, because you dealt it. You are Dutch oven-ing America’s airwaves.

Ah, what wit! Can you believe CBS is losing $40 million per year on that show, and isn’t keeping that guy and his program around longer?

“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,” Colbert said.

Except Trump and his administration hadn’t “silenced” anyone. Nor, apparently, had Colbert’s bosses. A statement from CBS issued Tuesdaypointed out that the network hadn’t told Colbert that he couldn’t air the interview with Talarico, as the host had claimed to his audience. They had simply reminded Colbert of the equal-time rule:

“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.”

It gets worse; Talarico has been on a tirade on X since Monday, arguing that President Trump has tried to “silence” him, “censor” him, “block” the airing of the interview, and that he is a victim of “cancel culture.”

“His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert,” Talarico claimed, apparently oblivious to the fact that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is a government agency and not a broadcasting station and thus doesn’t “air” anything.

Time travel — it’s not just for Joy Reid anymore:

Exit question:

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll