Colbert’s James Talarico Interview Hits 3 Million YouTube Views, Surpasses Bad Bunny Appearance
Stephen Colbert’s sit-down with Texas State Rep. James Talarico reached 3 million views in just 18 hours Tuesday after the network pulled the interview from “The Late Show.”
The late night host claimed that he received a call from his network’s lawyers, who told him he could not have Talarico on the show nor could he share why with his viewers. Colbert went on to share this news anyway with his audience in lieu of the appearance.
CBS responded Tuesday to Colbert’s candor about why the interview was scrapped and its subsequent online-exclusive. The network refuted Colbert’s claims and said that the late night show was instead given guidance for how they could air the segment and operate within FCC equal-time rules.
In just 18 hours after the online-exclusive interview was posted, Talarico’s sit-down has outpaced Colbert’s conversations with Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny and former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Bad Bunny’s pre-Super Bowl interview, in which the Grammy Winner took “The Colbert Questionert,” hit 1.1 million views on YouTube in the two weeks since it was posted.
Other high profile interviews like Michelle Obama‘s reached 1.9 million views since her November appearance, and Jane Fonda‘s take on America’s “slide into authoritarianism” surpassed a million views in the three weeks since it aired.
Talarico’s interview comes ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in which the Democratic Texas representative is campaigning for a Senate seat. Colbert noted that the Senate race should not be as interesting as it is, but two years into Trump’s term Talarico may now have a higher chance to flip the Lone Star state.
“I think that Donald Trump is worried that we’re about to flip Texas,” the representative told Colbert. “This is the party that ran against cancel culture, and now they are trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read, and this is the most dangerous kind of cancel culture. The kind that comes from the top.”
“Corporate media executives are selling out the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians,” Talarico said.
Watch the video here:
In place of airing the interview on CBS, Colbert discussed why his interview with Texas State Representative Talarico was absent from “The Late Show.” He explained the network’s pressure to uphold the FCC’s equal-time guidelines, which have previously been exempt for late night shows.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr said in a letter earlier this year that he was debating dropping the exception because he claimed some talk shows were motivated by partisan purposes.
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