Stephen Colbert is in a lame duck phase of his popular late-night show, and he no longer has a f*** to give. It must be incredibly difficult to work for a network that is actively working to ruin the brand that you built brick-by-brick. When a media company eschews bravery and embraces fear, we are all worse for it, especially these days when the American people are looking for unflinching voices to provide accurate information and hold power accountable.
That must suck.
May 21, 2026, will be the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and it appears that the ending will be very, very bitter. According to CNBC, Colbert ripped CBS a new one after he was told that his recent interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico would not be allowed to air on TV as originally planned.
“You know who’s not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas Representative James Talarico,” Colbert told his show’s studio audience for Monday night’s broadcast of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“He 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,”
Colbert went on to say that he was told that he should not reveal this to his audience, so he wasted no time revealing it to his audience and explaining why he was being censored.
The FCC recently gave directives to the three major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) about an antiquated and rarely followed law that requires equal airtime for a political candidate’s opponent if one should appear on a news show.
Even though Colbert’s interview with Talarico didn’t air on TV, it is available online in full.
For their part, CBS issued a statement using semantics as cover for pressuring Colbert to be as scared as they are of FCC head honcho Brendan Carr, the same man who Donald Trump sic’d on Jimmy Kimmel.
“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 [D-Texas], and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled,”
Sure, Jan.
