00:00He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network's lawyers,
00:05who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.
00:10Then, and because my network clearly doesn't want us to talk about this,
00:16let's talk about this.
00:18Stephen Colbert is stirring the political pot once again.
00:21But since his CBS show will air its last episode on May 21st,
00:25it's safe to say he's okay taking the risk.
00:28Here's how the latest drama all went down.
00:30On Monday night's episode of The Late Show, Colbert revealed that his network's lawyers
00:34warned him not to air an interview with Texas Democrat James Tallarico.
00:39Why?
00:40Well, the Federal Communications Commission, aka the FCC,
00:44is starting to crack down on a long-dormant rule about giving equal time to politicians
00:49on broadcast TV and radio.
00:52The law, which doesn't apply to cable or streaming,
00:55says it's not fair to give airtime to one candidate and not their opponents.
00:59In this race, that includes fiery Democratic rep, Jasmine Crockett.
01:03If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody's bleach-blonde,
01:09bad-built, butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?
01:13A what now?
01:15You heard the congresswoman.
01:17So what did Colbert do?
01:18He shared the internal scolding with his viewers, against his lawyers' wishes.
01:23But to avoid too much trouble, the Tallarico sit-down went on YouTube instead.
01:28That clip has already racked up one million views in less than 12 hours.
01:33Do you mean to cause trouble?
01:36I think that Donald Trump is worried that we're about to flip Texas.
01:43Tallarico also appeared on ABC's The View earlier this month,
01:47and the daytime talk show is now facing a federal probe
01:50for allegedly violating the equal time rule.
01:54The Texas primary is set for March 3rd.
01:57Tensions have been running high since July of last year,
01:59when CBS announced Colbert's show was ending in 2026.
02:03Supposedly it was a financial decision,
02:06and not because the host called CBS's parent company's $16 million settlement with Trump
02:11a, quote,
02:12big fat bribe.
02:13Then in September, amid political pressure,
02:16ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel off the air for a week,
02:18following remarks he made about Charlie Kirk.
02:21It was front-page news.
02:23Now Colbert is claiming conservative FCC chair Brendan Carr
02:26is trying to silence him,
02:28and his fellow liberal late-night hosts,
02:31including Seth Meyers, over on NBC.
02:33So it seems this battle over free speech is far from over.
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