Stephen Colbert has finally spoken out about the recent controversy surrounding Daft Punk’s failure to appear on an episode of his show last week. On Daily Show writer Paul Mercurio’s podcast, he discussed what exactly went down behind the scenes.

Daft Punk’s last minute cancellation of their appearance on The Colbert Report as part of StePhest Colbchella ‘013 has sparked a lot of gossip and confusion about what actually happened. Some thought it was their own decision, some thought it involved a contract with MTV, some thought it was a promo stunt for their upcoming performance at the VMAs…turns out it was a little of everything.

In his recent interview with Paul Mercurio, Colbert laid out in detail what actually lead the duo to cancel their August 6th appearance. It turns out they were hesitant at first. It turns out MTV didn’t allow them to perform on the show because of their performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on the 25th of this month. It turns out that even though Colbert and co. were able to book Robin Thicke, who will also be performing at the VMAs, they could not negotiate for Daft Punk.

However, MTV maintains that they do not have any exclusive agreements with or restrictions put on their musicians. VMA executive producer Jesse Ignjatovic had this to say in response:

We don’t put restrictions on anyone. I just think that we’re talking to them about a moment and then things sort of change. I would not describe that as MTV putting restrictions on people — it was up to that artist and their management what they wanted to do.

Hear it in Colbert’s own words at the 24 minute mark below.