Colbert Rips CBS’ Stance on Pulled Talarico Interview: ‘I Don’t Even Know What to Do With This Crap’ | Video
Stephen Colbert called out CBS after they denied stopping him from airing his interview with James Talarico on “The Late Show,” vehemently noting that he “obeyed” the network.
The comedian addressed the tension with CBS during Tuesday’s episode for “The Late Show,” where he called the statement from the network “crap” and maintained he followed direct orders.
“I was ready to let the whole thing go until a few hours ago when my group chat blowed up because, without ever talking to me, the corporation put out this press release, this statement,” Colbert said. “Now, this is a surprisingly small piece of paper considering how many butts it’s trying to cover.”
After Colbert finished reading the statement from CBS to his studio audience, the late night host said the press release was written by lawyers.
“I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t want to tell them how to do their jobs, but since they seem intent on telling me how to do mine, here we go,” he continued. “Fellas, 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.”
Per Colbert, they “obeyed [the] network and put the interview on YouTube,” adding that CBS signs off on all of his scripts.
“They know damn well that every word of my script last night was approved by CBS’s lawyers,” Colbert said, “who, for the record, approve every script that goes on the air, whether it’s about equal time or this image of frogs having sex.”
He added: “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 had 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. So, I don’t know what this is about.”
Colbert clarified that he wasn’t mad with CBS, defending that he didn’t “want an adversarial relationship with the network,” especially since he’s never had one prior to this situation.
“I’m just so surprised that this giant global corporation would not stand up to these bullies,” he concluded. “Come on, you’re Paramount. No, no. You’re more than that. You’re Paramount Plus. Plus what? I guess we’re all going to find out pretty soon.”
Watch his full statement above.
More to come…
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