‘Late Night’ host Stephen Colbert claims CBS told him to drop interview with James Talarico

NEW YORK (CBS, KYMA) - "Late Night" host Stephen Colbert sometimes criticizes President Donald Trump and his administration, but now, he's criticizing CBS News.

Colbert claimed during Tuesday's episode of "Late Night with Stephen Colbert" that CBS told him to drop an interview with a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate from Texas.

However, CBS claims that is not the case, and the interview has been posted online.

For a second night in a row, Colbert criticized CBS after he said the network made him pull his interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D) Monday in fear that it would violate the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) "Equal Time Rule."

"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 said during Monday's episode.

The "Equal Time Rule" requires broadcast stations to give equal air time to candidates running for the same political office.

Late-night and daytime talk shows have been traditionally exempt, but in January, the FCC said it is revisiting that rule, writing in a memo, "A program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under longstanding FCC precedent."

"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 remarked.

In a statement, CBS said Tuesday, "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."

"Every word of my script last night was approved by CBS lawyers...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," Colbert shared.

Monday was the first known time a late-night talk show changed its programming since the FCC issued its new guidance.

Anna Gomez, the only Democratic-appointed FCC Commissioner, worries that decision could enable censorship.

"We are in a very precarious moment for our First Amendment, and the FCC needs to stay out of content regulation because our First Amendment prohibits it," Gomez expressed.

But, Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has stood by the new guidance.

"Congress was clear that the FCC has a role with respect to bona fide news...They were worried that TV programmers would broadly take advantage of trying to claim they were bona fide news when they weren't," Carr explained.

To watch the interview with Talarico online, click here.