Stephen Colbert isn't backing down in an extraordinary public dispute with his bosses at CBS over what he can air on his late-night talk show.
On “The Late Show” Tuesday, Colbert said he was surprised by a statement from CBS denying that its lawyers told him he couldn't show an interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico — which the host said had happened the night before.
He then took a copy of the network statement, wrapped it in a dog poop bag, and tossed it away.
Colbert had instead shown his Talarico interview on YouTube, but told viewers why he couldn't show it on CBS. The network was concerned about FCC Chairman Brendan Carr trying to enforce a rule that required broadcasters to give “equal time” to opposing candidates when an interview was broadcast with one of them.
“We looked and we can't find one example of this rule being enforced for any talk show interview, not only for my entire late-night career, but for anyone's late-night career going back to the 1960s,” Colbert said.
Although Carr said in January he was thinking about getting rid of the exemption for late-night talk shows, he hadn't done it yet. “But CBS generously did it for him,” Colbert said.
Not only had CBS been aware Monday night that Colbert was going to talk about this issue publicly, its lawyers had even approved it in his script, he said. That's why he was surprised by the statement, which said that Colbert had been provided “legal guidance” that broadcasting the interview could trigger the equal time rule.
“I don't know what this is about,” Colbert said. “For the record, I'm not even mad. I really don't want an adversarial relationship with the network. I've never had one.”
He said he was “just so surprised that this giant global corporation would not stand up to these bullies.” CBS is owned by Paramount Global.
Colbert is a short-timer now at CBS. The network announced last summer that Colbert's show, where President Donald Trump is a frequent target of biting jokes, would end in May. The network said it was for economic reasons but others — including Colbert — have expressed skepticism that Trump's repeated criticism of the show had nothing to do with it.
This week's dispute with Colbert also recalls last fall, when ABC took late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air for a remark made about the killing of conservative activist founder Charlie Kirk, only to reinstate him following a backlash by viewers.
As of Wednesday morning, Colbert's YouTube interview with Talarico had been viewed more than five million times, or roughly double what the comic's CBS program draws each night. The Texas Democrat also reported that he had raised $2.5 million in campaign donations in the 24 hours after the interview.
David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
FILE - This photo combination shows Stephen Colbert, left, in Los Angeles, Sept. 12, 2022 and Texas Rep. James Talarico, Aug. 16, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Talia Sprague, Jae C. Hong, file)
MILAN (AP) — Russian athletes will compete under their own flag at the Paralympics for the first time in more than a decade, and the country's national anthem will be played for any gold medalists.
Tuesday's announcement stands as another indicator that Russia and its national identity will be fully restored in Olympic circles well ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
The International Paralympic Committee's move led to Ukraine's sports minister announcing a boycott Wednesday of those March 6-15 games by the country's public officials.
“We will not be present at the opening ceremony. We will not take part in any other official Paralympic events,” sports minister Matvii Bidnyi said in a social media post.
The IPC said Russia’s National Paralympic Committee had been awarded six entry slots for the upcoming Milan Cortina Paralympic Games.
It will mark the first time a Russian flag has been flown at the Paralympics since the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia. The Russian national anthem for a gold medal win has not been heard at any Olympics or Paralympics since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.
The country's athletes were initially banned because of a state-sponsored doping program, and the sanctions against Russia have continued since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Should a Paralympic athlete win gold, it will be the first time the Russian anthem has been played on the stage of any major global sporting event in the past four years.
Russia’s close ally, Belarus, has also been banned since 2022 but will have four slots at Milan Cortina.
“The IPC can confirm that NPC Russia has been awarded a total of six slots: two in Para alpine skiing (one male, one female), two in Para cross-country skiing (one male, one female), and two in Para snowboard (both male),” the statement said.
“NPC Belarus has been awarded four slots in total, all in cross-country skiing (one male and three female).”
In September, the IPC voted to lift partial suspensions of Russia and Belarus.
However, IPC President Andrew Parsons told The Associated Press in November that there would be no athletes from those countries at the Milan Cortina Games because the sports’ governing bodies had maintained their bans.
The following month, an appeal from Russia saw the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturn a blanket ban imposed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation — paving the way for Russians to compete as neutral athletes at the 2026 Olympics, and with their own flag and anthem at the Paralympics.
The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended since 2023 by the International Olympic Committee for breaking the Olympic charter by using an administrative land grab to incorporate regional sports bodies in occupied eastern Ukraine.
That decision is under an IOC legal review after the Russian Olympic body amended its statutes and could be overturned within months.
Following a system used in Paris in 2024, Russian athletes are competing at the current Olympics as individual neutral athletes — using the French acronym AIN — and without their flag, anthem or team colors.
Russian media reported that Aleksey Bugaev, a three-time Paralympic champion in Alpine skiing, is one of the athletes who has been given a slot along with cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian, who have both won medals at world championships.
All three returned to competition last month, and both Bugaev and Bagiian have since won World Cup titles.
AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - President of the International Paralympic Committee Andrew Parsons passes the Paralympic flag to Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, not pictured, after receiving it from Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, not pictured, during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
