Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat, is pushing back on the growing drama surrounding CBS and Stephen Colbert after the network decided not to air an interview with her Senate Democratic primary opponent, James Talarico.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday in Austin, Crockett said the situation may not be as simple as people think. “We did receive information suggesting the federal government did not shut down the segment,” Crockett said, referring to Colbert’s interview with Talarico that was originally scheduled to air Monday.
Instead, Crockett suggested CBS may have made the call out of caution. She said it looked like the network avoided airing the segment “because of a fear the FCC may say something to them, and that there may have been advice to just have me on, and then they can clear the issue. It is my understanding someone, somewhere, decided we just don’t want to do that.”
Crockett also made it clear she is not exactly defending the agency at the centre of the controversy. “Let me be clear. I don’t have love for the current FCC,” she said. “I do think there are additional layers at play here.”
The comments come after Colbert publicly accused CBS, his own employer, of giving in to pressure from the Federal Communications Commission by pulling the Talarico interview. Colbert claimed CBS chose to follow an equal time rule, something he said has not traditionally been applied to late-night talk shows. He also pointed out that Crockett has appeared on his show multiple times, but those segments happened before she officially entered the Senate race.
Talarico has also leaned into the controversy, accusing Trump’s FCC of working with CBS executives to keep him off the air. During a campaign rally in Austin on Tuesday, he claimed the move only helped him.
“I think it’s safe to say that their plan backfired,” Talarico said, noting that the YouTube version of the interview had already passed 5 million views. “These are the same people who 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.”
“They went after Jimmy Kimmel for telling a joke they didn’t like,” he added. “They went after Stephen Colbert for telling the truth about Paramount’s bribe to Donald Trump. Corporate media executives are selling out the First Amendment to curry favour with corrupt politicians.”
FCC Chair Brendan Carr fired back Wednesday during a press conference, accusing Talarico of spreading a “hoax” to boost his campaign fundraising. Talarico reportedly pulled in $2.5 million in just 24 hours after the controversy began.
“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,” Carr said. “And the news media played right into it.”
Meanwhile, Colbert has not backed down, blasting CBS again after the network released what he called a “crap” statement explaining why the interview could not air this week.
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