Stephen Colbert rips CBS, invokes dog excrement in tirade against network over Senate candidate i...

Colbert said his team &34;can't find one example&34; of the &34;equal time rule&34; for political talk show interviews being enforced in the past, after his Rep. James Talarico interview was relegated to YouTube. Stephen Colbert rips CBS, invokes dog excrement in tirade against network over Senate candidate interview Colbert said his team &34;can't find one example&34; of the &34;equal time rule&34; for political talk show interviews being enforced in the past, after his Rep. James Talarico interview was relegated to YouTube.

Colbert said his team "can't find one example" of the "equal time rule" for political talk show interviews being enforced in the past, after his Rep. James Talarico interview was relegated to YouTube.

Stephen Colbert rips CBS, invokes dog excrement in tirade against network over Senate candidate interview

Colbert said his team "can't find one example" of the "equal time rule" for political talk show interviews being enforced in the past, after his Rep. James Talarico interview was relegated to YouTube.

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February 18, 2026 10:13 a.m. ET

Stephen Colbert lashes out at CBS over reaction to James Talarico interview. Credit:

Late night icon Stephen Colbert has invoked the symbolic power of dog excrement in a new tirade against his *Late Show* network CBS and its alleged handling of his interview with Texas Senate candidate Rep. James Talarico.

One day after the 61-year-old TV staple alleged that CBS blocked him from broadcasting an interview with Talarico due to the FCC's longstanding "equal time rule" about giving equal telecast time to all of any given political interviewee's opponents during an election cycle, Colbert addressed the network's reasoning in a lengthy criticism of CBS on Tuesday night's show.

Colbert mounted a special segment to discuss the issue, telling his audience that he put the interview with Talarico on YouTube to avoid the broadcast stipulation, adding that there's historically been an exception to the equal time rule for talk shows.

"We looked, and we can't find one example of this rule being enforced for any talk show interview, not only for my entire late night career, but for anyone's late night career going back to the 1960s," Colbert said. "But on Jan. 21, we heard from FCC chairman Brendan Carr [who] issued a letter saying he was thinking about getting rid of that talk show exception. He'd not gotten rid of it yet, but CBS generously did it for him."**

Rep. James Talarico speaks with Stephen Colbert.

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

The audience booed as Colbert continued, alleging that the network "told me unilaterally that I had to abide by the equal time rules, something I've never been asked to do for an interview in the 21 years of this job. That decision, I want to be clear, is their right, just like I have the right to talk about their decision on air."

He then recalled finding out that CBS had put out a statement on the controversy Tuesday afternoon, alleging that "without ever talking to me," the network issued comment on the matter. He read the statement from a piece of paper: "*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."

Colbert turned back to the camera to address the lawyers he speculated wrote the statement.

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"I am well aware that we can book other guests. I didn't need to be presented with that option. I've had Jasmine Crockett on my show twice. I can prove that to you, but the network won't let me show you her picture without including her opponents," he said, "So I'll have to show you this picture of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein instead. They made me do it! I didn't want to!"

The talk show host said that "every word" of his script alleging that the interview was banned "was approved by CBS' lawyers," whom he said approve "every script that goes on the air" in general.

"Very specifically, in fact, between the monologue I did last night and before I did the second act talking about this issue, I had to go backstage. I got called backstage to get more notes from these lawyers, something that has never ever happened before, and they told us the language they wanted me to use to describe that equal time exception, and I used that language," he claimed. "So I don't know what this [statement] is about."

He finished the seven-minute segment by voicing shock that the "global corporation would not stand up to these bullies," and that "I don't even know what to do with this crap," with regard to the statement on the piece of paper before him.

"Hold on," he said, before putting a black plastic bag over his hand and scooping the statement into it as if he were picking up dog excrement from the sidewalk while the studio audience applauded.

** has reached out to representatives for CBS for comment on Colbert's latest comments on the issue.

The controversy comes as* The Late Show* enters its final stretch on the air ahead of its series finale on May 21. CBS previously called the show's cancellation a "financial decision," though Colbert — a staunch critic of Trump — and others have called the network's motives into question, particularly as the decision came amid parent company Paramount's merger with Skydance. Many speculated that the show was canceled to sweeten the deal, which needed FCC approval under the conservative Carr's direction.

Stephen Colbert on 'The Late Show'.

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

One of such critics included former *Late Show *host David Letterman.

"There's no fairness to these goons," Letterman said last year on *The Barbara Gaines Show*. "These guys are bottom feeders. That's exactly what this is. Of course they know that broadcast television is withering. They just want to make sure that on top of buying something that doesn't have the same value as it had 30 years ago, they don't want to be hassled by the United States government. So they want CBS to take care of all of that mess."

Colbert's isn't the only talk show that has come under fire from political entities. Jimmy Kimmel was temporarily suspended from ABC amid conservative pushback to his comments about Charlie Kirk's assassination. Additionally, in an exclusive statement to EW following Joy Behar's claim on *The View* that Trump is jealous of Barack Obama's physical appearance and marriage, a White House spokesperson warned that the show might be "next to be pulled off the air."

*The Late Show *airs weeknights on CBS. Watch Colbert address recent controversy in the clip above.

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Source: Late

Published: February 18, 2026 at 02:58PM on Source: PRIME TIME

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