Stephen Colbert’s James Talarico interview has been viewed 5 million times on YouTube

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” was blocked by CBS from airing its interview with Texas State Rep. on Monday. James Talarico – fearing retaliation from the FCC. So instead it was conversation posted on YouTube and other social media platforms, where the clip had been viewed more than 5.3 million times at last count. Talarico also revealed on X that his campaign raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours after Colbert revealed he wasn’t allowed to air the interview.

That’s an astonishing number for a video that’s been online for less than 48 hours — and already puts it among the top political interviews ever posted by “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” since its launch in 2015. It’s also by far the most-viewed YouTube clip so far this year for “The Late Show” — and the most-viewed Colbert clip since the one in September, in which the host celebrated the return of fellow host Jimmy Kimmel after his own battle with his parent network. (ABC) and the FCC.

The Talarico interview can be found from Wednesday morning here – has XX million views on YouTube, 4 million views on TikTok and 400,000 likes on Instagram. What’s notable is that all of Colbert’s other “Late Show” political interviews posted higher numbers before 2019. Those clips have had several years of cumulative traffic, compared to the few days the Talarico clip has had.

The Talarico clip delivered those numbers, even though Colbert noted that the network wouldn’t allow him to share a URL or QR code directing viewers there.

Ironically, many YouTube commenters on the clip noted that they had never heard of Talarico and wouldn’t have sought out an interview with a largely unknown politician until CBS stopped Colbert from airing the chat during its broadcast. “I’m not going to lie, I probably would have skipped this if CBS and FCC hadn’t tried to ban it,” one viewer wrote. Another said: “The FCC and CBS have brought this interview to my attention.”

Colbert’s most-watched political interview of all time on “The Late Show” was with then-candidate Donald Trump on September 23, 2015, which now has 17.85 million views. This is followed by a conversation with President Barack Obama on October 18, 2016 (14.86 million) and then two conversations with then New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (9.85 million on September 27, 2018 and 8.26 million on November 19, 2019). A March 31, 2018 interview with former President Jimmy Carter has been viewed 8.14 million times; an April 17, 2018 conversation with then-FBI Director James Comey was viewed 7.25 million times; and a November 13, 2017 conversation with then-Vice President Joe Biden has been viewed 6.51 million times.

On Monday’s “The Late Show,” Colbert told his audience that CBS lawyers banned them from recording an interview with Rep. Talarico, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, over the FCC’s equal time rule – which requires broadcast networks to provide equal airtime to opposing political candidates. News and talk shows have traditionally been exempt from “equal time” requirements, but FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has suggested the exemption should no longer apply to programs he characterized as “motivated by partisan purposes.” But he has merely threatened to aggressively go after left-leaning programs like “The View” and Late Night Talk for “equal time” violations, while allowing right-leaning outlets like talk radio to continue without any similar enforcement.

Colbert noted that Carr had not yet eliminated the “equal time” exception for talking, but CBS was “unilaterally enforcing it as if he had.” He said he wasn’t even allowed to show a photo of Talarico on the screen.

On Tuesday, CBS said in a statement that “The Late Show” was not banned by CBS from airing the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show received legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how to fulfill equal time for other candidates. ‘The Late Show’ decided to present the interview via its YouTube channel with on-air promotion during the broadcast instead of potentially offering the same-time options. “

Then, on Tuesday’s “The Late Show,” Colbert took the Eye network to task: “Without ever speaking to me, the company issued this press release,” Colbert said, presenting the statement on a piece of paper to the audience. “This statement is a surprisingly small piece of paper when you consider how many butts it is trying to cover.”