On Monday night (local time), U.S. late night talk show host Stephen Colbert announced he would not air an interview with a Democrat political candidate.
Instead, the late night host directed viewers to his YouTube channel to watch the segment.
Colbert said lawyers from the show’s network (CBS) told him in “no uncertain terms” that it would not air the interview due to a regulatory broadcast policy called the “equal time rule”.
Here’s what’s going on.
Equal time rule
In the U.S, if a broadcast station gives airtime to a political candidate during an election, it must offer equivalent airtime to all other candidates running for the same office.
The law is designed to prevent broadcasters from using publicly accessible airwaves (i.e. free TV and radio) to give one candidate an advantage over their rivals.
The equal time rule is monitored and enforced by the U.S. media regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Exemptions
The rule applies only to broadcast television and radio. It does not cover cable news channels (e.g. Fox News and CNN), streamers, or online video on platforms like YouTube and Spotify.
Broadcast talk shows (such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) have also historically operated under an exemption.
The “bona fide news exemption” recognises that not every appearance by a politician is directly related to a campaign.
Due to this exemption, the equal time rule has never been enforced on a talk show before.
Last month, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who U.S. President Donald Trump chose to lead the agency, issued new guidance for the rule specifically referencing “late night and daytime talk shows.”
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The guidance clarified that the exemption did not automatically apply to all talk shows, as had been the case in practice for decades, and expressed concerns about those that are “motivated by partisan purposes”.
Politics
In 2024, CBS aired an interview with then-Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Republican candidate Donald Trump sued CBS over the editing of the interview, alleging it was an attempt to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic Party”.
CBS settled the lawsuit with Trump in July 2025 for $US16 million. On his show, Colbert referred to the settlement as “a big fat bribe”.
Three days later, CBS announced ‘The Late Show’ would end in May 2026.
Colbert
On Monday night, Colbert told his studio audience that CBS lawyers said the network wouldn’t air his interview with James Talarico, due to the FCC’s new guidance on the equal time rule.
Talarico is running to be the Democrat candidate at a November election to fill one of Texas’ seats in the U.S. Senate.
Instead, Colbert directed viewers to YouTube, where the segment has since been viewed millions of times.
Response
Following the episode, CBS issued a statement saying it didn’t stop Colbert from broadcasting the interview.
The network said it provided “legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal time rule for two other candidates,” including Jasmine Crockett, who is running against Talarico to be the Democrat candidate.
Carr said: “Colbert and Talarico concocted a scheme to try to drive views and clicks and donations, and apparently votes by claiming falsely that the Government had somehow censored their program.”
