Brendan Carr says Stephen Colbert spat stems from push to give 'more airtime to Democrats'

WASHINGTON, DC: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr doubled down on his defense of the agency’s equal-time rules during a Fox News appearance on Wednesday, Feb 18, arguing the Stephen Colbert controversy was never about censorship.

Speaking with host Laura Ingraham, Carr said CBS had not blocked Colbert from airing his interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Instead, he insisted the network simply warned the host about complying with federal broadcast rules.

Brendan Carr says CBS allowed interview with conditions

Ingraham opened the segment by pressing Carr directly: “Brendan Carr, the man of the moment, Mr Chairman, set the record straight. What happened? You’re censoring people over there now? You’re on the verge of going after CBS?”

Carr pushed back firmly. “Well, President Trump has been so far ahead of the curve on so many issues, as you noted, on the economy, on border security, and perhaps nowhere else when he called out the legacy media for being fake news,” Carr said.

He then took aim at the broader media landscape, adding, “And yesterday, the American people got to see that on full display. And it’s why people have more trust and faith in gas station sushi today than they do in the legacy news media.”

According to Carr, CBS made it clear Colbert could air the interview, but might need to provide equal time to other candidates.

Equal-time rule would mean more candidate access

Brendan Carr described the dispute as political infighting rather than government overreach.

“This was Democrat-on-Democrat violence,” he said. “CBS was very clear that Colbert could run the interview that he wanted with that political candidate. They just said, you may have to comply with equal time, which would have meant potentially giving equal time to Jasmine Crockett and another candidate.”

He accused critics of misrepresenting the situation for attention.

“But instead of doing that, they claimed that they were victims. This was all about a political candidate trying to get attention and clicks, and news media ran with it like lemmings. They just ate it up,” Carr said.

The controversy began after Colbert told viewers that CBS lawyers warned that airing Talarico’s interview could violate the FCC’s Equal Time Rule, which has recently been extended to daytime and late-night talk shows.

Brendan Carr says enforcement is about fairness in elections

When Ingraham asked whether the FCC would have penalized CBS, Carr emphasized the agency’s position.

“What we’ve said, and we’ve been very clear, is that broadcasters have a unique right and privilege - a license and one thing they have to do is comply with the equal time rules,” he explained.

Pressed on enforcement history, Carr acknowledged, “It’s been a while,” but stressed the rule’s purpose.

“Complying would mean more airtime for more Democrats to say whatever it is that they want,” he said.

Carr argued the regulation is designed to prevent media outlets from influencing elections.

“And the Equal Time Rule, at its core, is about stopping legacy media from picking winners and losers in elections. It’s so that the American people can decide,” he said.

He added that critics would need to explain their own motivations: “Perhaps Colbert and other establishment Democrats want to put the thumb on the scale in this Democrat primary for one candidate over the other. I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them. But we’re gonna enforce the law and hold broadcasters accountable.”

FCC reviewing status of ‘The View’

During the interview, Carr also revealed the agency is examining ABC’s daytime program.

“Disney has a program called 'The View'. And they’ve been asserting the position that The View is what is known as ‘bona fide news’ in the statute,” Carr said.

He explained that programs classified as bona fide news are exempt from equal-time requirements but suggested ABC has not proven that status.

“But Disney and The View have not established that that program is, in fact, bona fide news. We’ve started enforcement proceedings, taking a look at that,” he said.

Carr closed by framing the broader fight as part of a shifting media landscape.

“The days that these legacy media broadcasters get to decide what we can say, what we can think, who we can vote for are over,” he said, adding that President Trump played “a key role in just smashing the facade that they still get to decide the narrative here.”