FCC Chair Brendan Carr addressed the dispute involving Stephen Colbert and Senate candidate James Talarico. He rejected claims of censorship and called the incident a “hoax” amid mounting public scrutiny.
Brendan Carr talks about Stephen Colbert-James Talarico controversy
Brendan Carr addressed the controversy surrounding The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and an interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Carr said, “There was no censorship here at all.” He added that Colbert “could have run his interview” if the program complied with equal time rules by airing interviews with competing Democrats or choosing not to air the interview in Texas (via The Hill).
Carr called the episode a “hoax” and said he was “highly entertained,” describing it as “one of the most fun days I’ve had in the job watching sort of the hilarity of how this story played out.” He said, “You had a Democrat candidate who understood the way the news media works, and he took advantage of all of your sort of prior conceptions to run a hoax, apparently, for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks, and the news media played right into it.”
CBS said Colbert “was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates” and denied prohibiting the interview. On his show, Colbert responded, “They know damn well that every word of my script last night was approved by CBS lawyers, who, for the record, approve every script that goes on the air.” He added, “I got called backstage to get more notes from these lawyers. Something that had never, ever happened before.”
Carr said Colbert has “what he probably views as a long and distinguished career in the limelight, sees that that limelight is fading, is coming to an end. That’s got to be a difficult time for him… That doesn’t change the facts of what happened here.”
At the time of writing, Colbert has posted the interview on YouTube, where it has received more than 7 million views.
Originally reported by Anubhav Chaudhry on ComingSoon.net.
