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CBS lawyers tell Colbert not to interview Texas Democratic Rep. James Talarico---and not to mention it.

Once again, my friend, you are so enthusiastic about posting that you create disjointed, punctuation-free sentences which give me a headache in deciphering.

I think you are asking if the Equal Time rule applies here. Technically, it could, but -- as has been stated already -- this is a primary and so the only valid claim would be from other candidates of the same party on that party's ballot.

IIRC, the 2026 "incident" was similarly about an appearance during the primary season. Were there other Democrats running against him in that primary, and if so did any of them claim equal time? All I find in searching is Brendan Carr (as usual) wanting to have an "investigation".
I would think this wouldn't even apply outside of Texas. Again, nothing to it but Carr trying to be an authoritarian.
 
Once again, my friend, you are so enthusiastic about posting that you create disjointed, punctuation-free sentences which give me a headache in deciphering.

I think you are asking if the Equal Time rule applies here. Technically, it could, but -- as has been stated already -- this is a primary and so the only valid claim would be from other candidates of the same party on that party's ballot.

IIRC, the 2026 "incident" was similarly about an appearance during the primary season. Were there other Democrats running against him in that primary, and if so did any of them claim equal time? All I find in searching is Brendan Carr (as usual) wanting to have an "investigation".
True too I never heard Jasmine Crockett say anything or complain about the Equal Time Rule. Its all about Brendan Carr or his allies wanting to have an "investigation". That always mean go after anything the White House wants censored.
 
There isn't even that. As it stands now, the news exemption exists for shows like The View, Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel and Seth. Brendan Carr hasn't overturned anything...he's just threatening to. This is compliance in advance.
What I should have written was, "The big, big *tactical* mistake CBS legal made here was trying tell Colbert not to talk about it." I say "tactical" because there's not much of a principle to be salvaged here. CBS corporate clearly didn't want this interview...we can guess why...so the only real consideration at that point was how to get out of the situation with the least damage possible. It could have been worse: Colbert could have kept silent, then word would have leaked out (because the new CBS theme song should be Split Enz's "Six Months in a Leaky Boat"), and then there would be even more of a poop storm than there is now. In that sense, Colbert actually did CBS a favor. CBS can claim (not credibly, but still) that they didn't censor anything, since the interview is available online. CBS corporate should have penciled out some scenarios here. It's possible they couldn't have cared less about how this was going to look, essentially self-censorship to preserve a business advantage. It still seems incompetent, unless the ultimate goal is to discard CBS as damaged goods. They could just as easily have said, "look, you can't do this but you can mention it and put it on your online platforms" (which are not FCC-regulated). The fact that they didn't say that indicates that this isn't really a legal or regulatory issue, despite the cover story to the contrary; it's an issue of currying favor and not contradicting an agenda that's not so hidden.
 
CBS corporate clearly didn't want this interview..

Why would that be? The state of Texas has basically gerrymandered the democratic party out of existence. They're about to take over Houston because they don't like the way the city votes. There is nothing one interview is going to do that will change anything. Plus, the CBS lawyers are all Ivy League New Yawkers who voted for Mandami.

What's the negative here? Colbert gets loads of positive publicity in the liberal media. He gains a lot of subscribers to his YouTube, which he will likely retain when he leaves CBS. He makes CBS look bad to his base, which is has been his MO all along. I don't see a negative. In fact, I could see some at CBS specifically telling him not to talk about it, knowing that would ensure he would. "Please don't throw me into that briar patch."

CBS corporate should have penciled out some scenarios here. It's possible they couldn't have cared less about how this was going to look,

It's also possible they didn't know about it, and this whole thing was made up by Colbert & his team because they knew it would go viral.
 
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Large corporations, especially their counsel, generally do not act on the belief that any publicity is good publicity.

Once again, what's the negative? The interview didn't air. The FCC has nothing to investigate. Did anybody get fired?

Everybody has lawyers, including Colbert. I'm pretty sure he was acting on advice of his counsel.

I think Letterman and Ferguson are loving every minute of this. As Craig used to say: "CBS Cares."
 
Why would that be? The state of Texas has basically gerrymandered the democratic party out of existence. They're about to take over Houston because they don't like the way the city votes. There is nothing one interview is going to do that will change anything. Plus, the CBS lawyers are all Ivy League New Yawkers who voted for Mandami.

What's the negative here? Colbert gets loads of positive publicity in the liberal media. He gains a lot of subscribers to his YouTube, which he will likely retain when he leaves CBS. He makes CBS look bad to his base, which is has been his MO all along. I don't see a negative. In fact, I could see some at CBS specifically telling him not to talk about it, knowing that would ensure he would. "Please don't throw me into that briar patch."



It's also possible they didn't know about it, and this whole thing was made up by Colbert & his team because they knew it would go viral.
What do you mean they’re going to “take over Houston”?

Also Colbert doesn’t own the YouTube channel for his show, CBS does.

And why would Colbert and/or his team make up that CBS lawyers told them not to interview someone?
 
At least for now. I wouldn't call that something you can count on long-term.

I'm not counting on anything. Colbert is leaving in May. Wherever he ends up won't be regulated by the FCC.

What do you mean they’re going to “take over Houston”?


And why would Colbert and/or his team make up that CBS lawyers told them not to interview someone?

For it to go viral. As of a few minutes ago, over 2 million people have watched the Talarico interview.

Once again, CBS controls the network. They knew what Colbert was going to say. If they objected, they could have run a repeat.
 
I'm not counting on anything. Colbert is leaving in May. Wherever he ends up won't be regulated by the FCC.






For it to go viral. As of a few minutes ago, over 2 million people have watched the Talarico interview.

Once again, CBS controls the network. They knew what Colbert was going to say. If they objected, they could have run a repeat.
Thanks for the link. I think the idea that Colbert or his team would lie to make an interview go viral is silly. That’s something an amateur with no following would do.
 
For it to go viral. As of a few minutes ago, over 2 million people have watched the Talarico interview.

Once again, CBS controls the network. They knew what Colbert was going to say. If they objected, they could have run a repeat.

I'm reminded of the other late night show on CBS hosted by Craig Ferguson, where he had an actress play the role of Beth, the CBS executive who was there to call Craig out on his frequent stepping over the line.

It was funny, and Dana DeLorenzo was great in the role, but I don't think this is that. I doubt very much that Colbert colluded with the network to "go viral," but who knows?
 
I think the idea that Colbert or his team would lie to make an interview go viral is silly. That’s something an amateur with no following would do.

Think whatever you want to think. Once again, if CBS lawyers or owner didn't want his comments to air, they could have run a repeat. They didn't.

Colbert is not an amateur. He's been doing this a long time. He has a very smart team behind him. They know what they're doing.

I doubt very much that Colbert colluded with the network to "go viral," but who knows?

Maybe, maybe not. In any case we know all about it, and it's getting massive media coverage. So regardless of how it happened, it happened.

Talarico is in NYC doing a ton of media. He will be on MS-Now tonight. So will Jasmine Crockett.
 
Once again, CBS controls the network. They knew what Colbert was going to say. If they objected, they could have run a repeat.
The interview would have been online anyway, and the Internet would have been all over it. While this was not the worst-case scenario for CBS, it was still pretty bad (unless the ultimate goal was to run CBS aground, which can't be discounted). Even the dumbest lawyer or executive would see what happened with ABC and Kimmel and see that running a repeat would have made everything worse.
 



Here is more on the James Talarico interview on the Late Show.



Yes as mentioned in the other thread its all about the Ellisons running as candidates to get the WB.
 
Even the dumbest lawyer or executive would see what happened with ABC and Kimmel and see that running a repeat would have made everything worse.

When do you think CBS told Colbert he couldn't interview Talarico? Because Talarico was never listed among the guests for Monday night.

This story came out Sunday:

The fun will begin on February 16 as Colbert is joined by legends Jennifer Garner and Emma Thompson. It seems the episode will feature a new edition of The Colbert Questioner, with Thompson slated to take the test during her sit-down with Colbert.
 


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