“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” was blocked on Monday by CBS from broadcasting its interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico — fearing retribution from the FCC. So, instead the conversation was posted on YouTube and other social media platforms, where at last count, the clip had been viewed more than 5.3 million times. Talarico also revealed on X that his campaign raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours after Colbert revealed he was barred from airing the interview.
That’s an astounding number for a video that has been up for less than 48 hours — and already puts it among the top political interviews that have ever been posted by “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” since its launch in 2015. It’s also easily the most-watched YouTube clip so far this year for “The Late Show” — and its most-watched Colbert clip since one in September, where the host celebrated the return of fellow host Jimmy Kimmel after his own battle with his parent network (ABC) and the FCC.
As of Wednesday morning, the Talarico interview — which can be found here — has been viewed X.X million times on YouTube, 4 million views on TikTok and 400,000 likes on Instagram. What’s remarkable is that any other Colbert “Late Show” political interviews that have higher numbers were posted prior to 2019. Those clips have had several years of cumulative traffic, compared to the mere days that the Talarico clip has had.
The Talarico clip racked up those numbers even though Colbert noted the network would not allow him to share a URL or QR code directing viewers there.
Ironically, many YouTube commenters on the clip noted that they had never heard of Talarico, and wouldn’t have sought out an interview with a mostly unknown politician, until CBS blocked Colbert from airing the chat on his broadcast. “Not gonna lie, I probably woulda skipped this if CBS and FCC hadn’t tried to ban it,” wrote one viewer. Said another: “The FCC and CBS brought this interview to my attention.”
Colbert’s most-watched “The Late Show” political interview of all time is with then-candidate Donald Trump on Sept. 23, 2015, which now boasts 17.85 million views. After that is a chat with President Barack Obama on Oct. 18, 2016 (14.86 million) and then two with then-New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (9.85 million on Sept. 27, 2018, and 8.26 million on Nov. 19, 2019). A March 31, 2018, interview with former President Jimmy Carter has accumulated 8.14 million views; an April 17, 2018, talk with then-FBI director James Comey earned 7.25 million views; and a Nov. 13, 2017 conversation with then-former Vice President Joe Biden has attracted 6.51 million views.
On Monday’s “The Late Show,” Colbert told his audience that CBS lawyers forbade them from including an interview with Rep. Talarico, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, because of FCC’s “equal time” rule — which requires broadcast networks to provide opposing political candidates equivalent airtime. News and talk shows have traditionally been exempt from “equal time” demands, but FCC chair Brendan Carr has suggested the exemption should no longer apply to programs he characterized as being “motivated by partisan purposes.” But he has only threatened to aggressively go after shows that skew to the left, such as “The View” and late night talk, for “equal time” violations, while allowing right-skewing outlets like talk radio to proceed without any similar enforcement.
Colbert noted that Carr had yet to eliminate the “equal time” exception for talk, but that CBS was “unilaterally enforcing it as if he had.” He said he wasn’t even allowed to show a photo of Talarico on screen.
On Tuesday, CBS said in a statement that “‘The Late Show’ was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled. ‘The Late Show’ decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options.”
Then, on Tuesday’s “The Late Show,” Colbert took the Eye network to task: “Without ever talking to me, the corporation put out this press release,” Colbert said, presenting the statement to the audience on a sheet of paper. “This statement, it’s a surprisingly small piece of paper considering how many butts it’s trying to cover.”