The other 98%
@other98
CBS tried to spin this as a misunderstanding and it blew up in their face.
After Colbert told viewers that CBS lawyers had said in "no uncertain terms" that James Talarico could not appear on The Late Show or even be mentioned, the network rushed out a legalistic statement insisting the show had never been
"prohibited" from airing the interview.
It read like classic corporate damage control from a company that folded fast under a Trump packed FCC and only found its courage once the backlash hit.
Colbert was not buying it.
On Tuesday he walked back on stage with receipts literally in hand, holding up the CBS statement and mocking it as "crap" and "a surprisingly small piece of paper considering how many butts it is trying to cover," while reading out how he had been told he could not have Talarico on or even talk about not having him on. He also said the warning his team got about possible consequences from the Trump FCC "sounded like a threat of physical violence," turning what CBS framed as neutral regulatory advice into something that felt like raw intimidation.
In true late night truth to power fashion, Colbert turned the whole thing back on the suits and the administration they are scared of.
He blasted the Trump FCC and commissioner Brendan Carr as politically "motivated by partisan purposes" and framed the pulled interview as censorship from the top, not some neutral civics rulebook being enforced.
For viewers on the left, the episode landed like a case study in how corporate media and a vengeful White House work together to police which Democrats get to speak on national TV and which ones are quietly disappeared.
This was Colbert's initial statement.
Hilarious.
That's the best you got?
"Called my lawyers" vs "reached out to me"?
Fuck off moron.