The interview that Donald Trump apparently didn’t want Americans to watch has gone viral. Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico sat down with Stephen Colbert, and the clip has already racked up over 1.4 million views on YouTube alone, with millions more spreading across Reddit and X.
The reason the interview didn’t air on CBS? According to Colbert, Trump’s FCC — or more specifically, attorneys at his network following Trump guidance — blocked it.
“You know who is not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas state Rep. James Talarico,” Colbert said on Monday.*“He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.”
Colbert added that he was barred from even mentioning that Talarico was blocked. “And because my network clearly does not want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this,” he said, launching into a scathing critique of the Trump administration.
The comedian specifically called out Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed FCC chair, accusing him of partisan hypocrisy regarding the agency’s “equal time” rule for election-year candidates. While late-night talk shows like Colbert’s are currently exempt from the rule, Carr has openly discussed removing the exemption, a move Colbert says is clearly designed to silence voices critical of Trump.
“Let’s just call this what it is: Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV,” Colbert continued. “He’s like a toddler with too much screen time. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diapers. So, it’s no surprise that two of the people most affected by this threat are me and my friend Jimmy Kimmel.”
Colbert’s blowback comes amid a larger rightward shift at CBS following Paramount’s merger with Skydance and the controversial appointment of Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief — moves that followed the cancellation of “The Late Show.”
Trump has long targeted Colbert, Kimmel, and other late-night hosts, threatening to use FCC power against networks that air criticism of him. Now, in a dramatic illustration of that threat, Talarico’s interview was effectively silenced on traditional broadcast, only to explode online.
On social media Tuesday, Talarico shared the clip, writing: “This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see. His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert. Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas.”
Watch the full interview below:
