How an FCC letter kept Stephen Colbert’s interview with a Texas Senate hopeful off the air

Late-night talk shows have historically been exempt from the FCC’s equal time rule, but current chairman Brendan Carr wants to change that.

Monday night’s episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was missing something—an entire interview. But viewers weren’t left in the dark about why—host Stephen Colbert told his audience that CBS didn’t air his interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico due to concerns it could run afoul of shifting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules.