Texas Democratic candidates are heavily pushing the idea that the Lone Star State could flip blue after nearly 45 years as a Republican-dominant state.
An uphill battle for sure, and skepticism remains given historical context, though claims of a recently “censored” interview of Texas Democrat James Talarico, who is running in the Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat, on “The Late Show” has some believing that suppressing the video only amplified the Democrat’s campaign.
According to Talarico, his campaign raised $2.5 million after his interview with “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert streamed on YouTube, after, he claimed, the federal government prohibited it from airing on broadcast television due to apparent pressure from the Federal Communications Commission’s Equal Time Rule that requires a show to interview all candidates during an election if they choose to interview one to avoid partisanship.
Colbert further accused FCC Chairman Brendan Carr of partisan censorship on his show ahead of the Talarico interview, for launching a probe earlier this month into ABC’s “The View” for their interview with Talarico and whether that broke the commission’s equal time rule.
In his opening monologue on Monday, Colbert said 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 is nearing the end of his tenure as host of the show in May after more than 10 years on air.
But did federal censorship pressure actually occur?
Talarico’s Senate race competitor, fellow Democrat Jasmine Crockett, said in a video posted by The Hill, that her office “received information suggesting” the federal government was not responsible for the segment getting shut down, and that either “Colbert or CBS decided” not to air the interview, out of “fear” of potential FCC retaliation, she said.
NewsNation host Batya Ungar-Sargon responded to Crockett’s comments on X:
“This has got to be one of the funniest reveals of all time: Stephen Colbert whipped up a #Resistance mob by pretending CBS was caving to Trump and censoring him and James Talarico—when it turned out it was Colbert censoring... Jasmine Crockett! Absolutely tremendous content. ... Raising $2.5 million off a naked lie. Just wild!"
Both Colbert and Talarico continued to accuse media executives of censoring the segment, alleging that the decision was politically motivated and influenced by pressure from Republican President Donald Trump.
Referring to the Republican Party, Talarico said in his interview, “This is the party that ran against cancel culture, and now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read, and this is the most dangerous kind of cancel culture, the kind that comes from the top. ... Corporate media executives are selling out the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians, and a threat to any of our First Amendment rights, is a threat to all of our First Amendment rights.”
The network responded in a statement saying, “‘The Late Show’ was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico,” per CBS News.
It continued, “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.”