Stephen Colbert Tells Brendan Carr: Go FCC Yourself

After CBS lawyers told Stephen Colbert to cut a segment, the Late Night host defied their orders and called out the egregious display of censorship live on the air.

What Just Happened

Stephen Colbert revealed last night that CBS lawyers forced him to scrap an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico. The episode aired, but the interview did not. Not only that, Colbert was told he wasn’t even allowed to mention the interview at all. So, of course, he did.

“Let’s just call this what it is. Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV.”

We’ve Seen This Before

And it’s picking up the pace. The FCC went after “The View” after Talarico appeared on the daytime talk show. Now they’ve come for Colbert for hosting him as well.

Last year, Jimmy Kimmel bore the brunt of the administration’s censorship blitz, when ABC caved to pressure to take him off the air for a joke Trump didn’t like.

Are you seeing the pattern here?

This isn’t even the first incident of blatant censorship at CBS this year. A month ago, after the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, CBS’s head of news, Bari Weiss, published a story parroting the administration’s lies, despite major dissent from journalists in the newsroom.

When that happened, I said we weren’t quite at blunt force media censorship. That this was an insidious quid pro quo. CBS installs Bari Weiss as a mouthpiece of the state in exchange for favors.

We’re well beyond that now. You have FCC chair Brendan Carr siccing CBS lawyers on a late night host telling him exactly what he can and can’t say.

Corporate Lap Dogs Roll Over

Colbert’s show was actually cancelled last summer, despite being extremely popular, days after he slammed Paramount for paying a “big fat bribe” to all but assure Trump would approve their corporate merger.

Yesterday’s attack on Colbert came on the same day as news broke that Paramount is back in talks to buy Warner Brothers, yet another massive deal that would need Trump’s approval.

Paramount has proven it’s completely compromised, willing to cater to Trump’s whims, no matter how petty. That big fat $16 million bribe that CBS paid settled Trump’s claim that an interview with Kamala Harris was edited unfairly. CBS wasn’t the only one to cave to his pressure. ABC paid its own $16 million settlement. Trump sued Meta, they paid.

Just last week, The Washington Post laid off 30% of its staff, gutting the newsroom and effectively destroying the paper that uncovered Watergate. And who calls the shots there? Jeff Bezos, who has billions of dollars in government contracts. The last thing he needs is a pesky media outlet pissing off Trump, threatening his good will.

Looks a Lot Like Censorship

This, from the people who promised to end censorship. Trump’s FCC has threatened to revoke the licenses of TV broadcasters that air content he doesn’t like. This is a guy who swore to end cancel culture. This comes from the Republicans, the party of “free speech.”

Trump will go after anyone who says anything that hurts his feelings, and this guy’s skin is so thin, you could read the paper through it. Papers like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal - both of which he sued.

It Won’t Stop Here

This is dictator cosplay, if the costume came from a Halloween store in an old Sears.

But the censorship is not going to stop there. This administration feels that it has free reign to walk all over TV networks, and with one phone call from CBS lawyers to Stephen Colbert, it’s become crystal clear that it does.

After Colbert was forced to cut the Talarico interview from air, the show posted it on YouTube, where the FCC has no jurisdiction. In censoring the interview on TV, the administration funneled 2 million viewers, and counting, to the clip online. An epic self-own. Streisand would be proud.

That just goes to show how critically important a space this is, and how powerful independent media can be. Good people, like Stephen Colbert, trying to do the right thing have their hands tied by corporate overlords who kowtow to the federal government in exchange for favors.

I don’t have to worry about that, and I never will because I’m not beholden to any kind of money-grubbing corporate entity. I am 100% independent. I’m proud to be able to give you this kind of analysis in real time without having to worry about merger approvals or regulatory pressure. My only bosses - now and forever - are my readers.