No Age performing at LA Central Library (more photos here) | Photo by LAist Music Editor Josh Pressman

Local band No Age recently taped a performance at CBS' Late Late Night with Craig Ferguson scheduled to be aired on October 27. Although, they made it through the taping, they almost didn't because of an Obama t-shirt. Guitarist Randy Randall explains to Stereogum in an e-mail:

After the rehearsals, the people from CBS said I couldn't wear the shirt. I threatened to walk off the set and not do the show. They would not budge. They said that it was because they had to give equal time. I told them to put up a Mccain t-shirt, or anything else they wanted, but they wouldn't do anything. Dean and I talked and we came to the conclusion that it was better to do the show and make a statement on national TV than just walk away. So I turned the shirt inside out and wrote free healthcare on it.

As Jay Babcock explains, said "equal time," otherwise known as the Fairness Doctrine, was repealed in 1987 and later upheld by a court ruling in 1989. "Since then, corrollary rules of the Fairness Doctrine--the "personal attack" rule and the "political editorial" rule--have also been struck down in the courts, with the last court ruling (and subsequent FCC order) coming in 2000," Babcock wrote on his Arthur blog. "In short, there is no fairness rule. Randy's Obama shirt was perfectly broadcastable under every existing law."