Late-night host Stephen Colbert accused his network, CBS, of refusing to broadcast his interview with Texas Rep. James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, during Monday night’s airing of “The Late Show” for fear of running afoul of the Trump administration.
Colbert said CBS canceled Talarico’s appearance on air in light of guidance issued Jan. 21 by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, which directed daytime and late-night TV talk show hosts to offer equal airtime to all political candidates running for a given office. Talk shows have long been exempted from these “equal time” rules when conducting “bona fide news interviews,” allowing them to book political candidates without bringing on their opponents.
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,” Colbert said in a segment explaining the cancelation. “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.”
The interview was set to air on Monday night’s show the day before the start of early voting for Texas’ March 3 primaries. Talarico is vying for the Senate Democratic nomination against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas.
Remember, CBS is now owned by a Trump ally.
Talarico is vying for the Senate Democratic nomination against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas.
Interesting. Crockett is one of the very few Dems willing if not just able to navigate through Republican tactics. What could Talarico offer?
Literally the only defining feature I’ve seen listed about him is that he’s very Christian.
So yeah… Not a big fan of that.
Talarico resonates with the deeply Christian left
I’m still confused how core Christian beliefs can be in any way compatible with right leaning political beliefs.
They are not.
He’s a white minister. This is how they get rid of a pesky black woman, you gerrymander her out of office.
Be careful what you wish for. She is highly respected nationally, and will have multiple offers from several news organizations very quickly, where she will have a national microphone to attack from. She no longer has to abide by MAGA rules.
You cannot gerrymander a senate seat
Hmmm. I like Crockett. I’m not from Texas but she’s got Texas sized girl balls.
I feel like this is some reverse psychology thing or something. It’s clear the media is pushing Talarico because they’re scared of Crockett.
I think that’s a huge leap. Talarico’s positions are way left of the Democratic establishment, why would they be more “scared” of Crockett than him? He’s got Zionist groups actively campaigning against him because he’s forthright about the Gaza genocide. He’s setting his campaign up against the wealthy and openly criticizing the Democratic party’s subservience to wealthy donors. There just isn’t that much difference between their political positions, and I don’t get your angle.
Here’s a recent headline:
Texas Jewish voters alarmed by James Talarico’s Israel rhetoric
Local leaders said that, without improved outreach from Talarico to address their concerns, they’re likely to vote for Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary
Talarico seems to have his shit together. That said, keep your religion the fuck outta government. It’s fine pointing out the religious hypocrisy and charlatans in politics, but opening the door to religion, even if the individual is agreeable, is a bad idea.
Did you listen to his interview?
He states that his belief is that the separation of Church and State should 100% be protected. Not just to protect the government but to protect the religion, so it doesn’t get taken advantage of by political movement like Christian Nationalists.
He mainly pushed love God and love your neighbor. If you loved your neighbor, then you wouldn’t push your religion or any other belief on them.
I’m paraphrasing but that’s what I got out of it. I think he’s someone that could break through to some of the religious right.
I have listened to several of his interviews. That’s why I even bother to indicate I appreciate his take. Pardon me if I treat someone with skepticism riding heavily on a platform that is at minimum rehotorically religious stating they believe in separation of church and State.
I’m torn on this - Christianity (particularly evangelical christianity) has had an extremely negative effect on democracy in our country and has caused physical harm to others.
However, I think most people with a conscience subscribe to some form of philosophy or religion (even if atheists aren’t “loyal” to any particular perspective and may not even use titles/categories to describe their value system) and I think it’s fine for your morals/conscience to influence decision making. Even a purely scientific decision making process could be considered a form of philosophy.
That being said, most organized religion is about obedience to the tenets of said religion, not a method of asking questions about the world to try to find the most just way to proceed.
Philosophy is the foundation of science.
Are you suggesting only agnostics should govern?
Talarico said in the interview he wants the separation of church and state to return as the current blend diminishes both.
Wouldn’t that be something?
But that’s not what I said. I said keep your religion outta my government. I didn’t say you couldn’t have religion.
angry atheists think anyone who follows any religion at all is automatically idiot… meanwhile they usually are religious themselves about something else that is traditionally a religion. like the ‘new atheists’ crap.
religious belief is a basic aspect of being a person, no matter how much people deny it.
There is a distinct difference between belief and religious beliefs. Please get your bib…er, dictionary out.
It’s subservience, not fear on CBS’s part.
Good on Colbert for bringing a little Streisand effect to the party.
After the announcement that he was cancelled I was irritated how silent he was in the issue. I guess it had legal reasons. So happy that he stopped giving a fuck.
Silent? He never shuts up about it. And his guests bring it up constantly too. But their comments are, understandably, mostly sarcastic and passive aggressive, because there is no legal recourse available to fight the choice.
Okay then I made a poor choice in wording. I meant the passive aggressive approach instead of full on. This is different now.
I though Colbert was cancelled from the first of this year?
I think he’s cancelled in May or thereabouts. It’s a very slow cancellation.
They have contracts.
You can still (and should) watch it on YouTube!
Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas Legislature
Edit: If you feel so inclined, you can donate to his US Senate campaign here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jt-tx-web
or you could donate to jasmine crockett. just sayin.
we need more black representation in dc.
I agree, though after listening to both of them a bunch, I’m supporting Talarico in this election. I hope to continue to see Crockett’s star rise though
this fella is way too into god for me.
His religious argument for progressive values is what makes him a strong candidate for Texas.
The motivations for a person’s good actions are generally less important than that they act good, less you are looking for a way to manipulate them into acting poorly. Only then do the reasons behind their actions become more important than their actions themselves.
God aside, he agrees with the words some ancient people spoke regarding how to be good people and thrive as a society, and no science has ever proven those words wrong… Science agrees, hand over fist.
Research the sins and virtues and extrapolate their outcomes, or look to past examples. Then, when acting as an individual, choose the sin or virtue that best serves the whole community, including yourself.
If the link goes dark I’ve pulled copy, hit me up.
Thank you. I was just thinking that someone needs to grab this, and it was going to be a pita if I had to be the one to do it.
(More copies are always welcome.)
I downloaded it before watching it.
That guy was super well spoken and had a good message. I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of him before. Always nice to see the Streisand Effect in action!
He was definitely well spoken and definitely had a good message. It’s not at all surprising that we haven’t heard of him.
Not to say this story isn’t important, self censorship at the hands of the state is…
But what does this have to do with technology?
Important story, wrong place friend.
There is a conversation to be had here about how newer broadcast mediums like YouTube are not regulated the same way as older mediums like TV/Radio… And it is that old regulation and those differences that allowed Colbert to sidestep this censorship.
Both the censorship and the tech aspects of this story are worthy of discussion, and thus this ‘event’ most certainly does belong here.
But most people are more concerned about the censorship and the content of the video, and that will naturally influence the direction of most discussions about it.
Plus, people don’t always even look at the forum a post was shared too before commenting. Naturally they just see a thing that interests them and they start talking about it.
I only know the forum cause I got far enough down the comments to see yours.
I believe that communications/media broadcasting are under the technology umbrella.
Not really a tech centric story. This is primarily a political/free speech story. If it was about a piece of technology used to censor someone, that might fit.
This stunt has caused the video to get 100 times the views it would normally get. I watched it and i never catch the colbert report unless i stumble across is online.
The Trump administration is doing their best to destroy this country, but even republicans know you don’t touch the first amendment.
They should know. The reaction to kirks death “don’t mock the man” martyr position kinda surprised me.
In a more covert way they went after freedom of speech for years. Lgbtq books, etc
Some Republicans know better than to mess with 1st amendment rights, maybe even most, but apparently none of those Republicans own or control our media outlets or operate our government.
I kinda feel like there are definitely poor Republicans, but all the supposed rich and powerful Republicans secretly belong to an entirely different clan.
