Longtime late-night host Stephen Colbert, of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, announced the upcoming end of his show days after he ripped CBS for settling a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump.
Colbert announced to his audience that The Late Show would end next year. While CBS has portrayed the cancellation as a cost-cutting measure, many are suspicious about the decision coming just after Colbert criticized the network’s decision to settle a lawsuit Trump filed over a 60 Minutes segment.
Colbert announces ‘last season’ of ‘The Late Show,’ bringing an end to an era
During Thursday’s episode of The Late Show, Colbert said he had just learned that “next year will be our last season. The network will be ending the show in May.”
The announcement drew boos from the audience.
“Yeah, I share your feelings,” Colbert said before explaining that the entire franchise was “going away.”
The cancellation ends over three decades of late-night programming for CBS, going back to 1993 and the launch of The Late Show with David Letterman.
In a statement about the cancellation, CBS executives said, “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘The Late Show’ franchise.” According to the network’s statement, the cancellation “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Colbert had been critical of Trump and his network
The decision to cancel The Late Show was announced only days after Colbert mocked Paramount for its decision to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit the president filed over a 60 Minutes interview with then-presidential candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump had alleged that the CBS news show edited the interview to make Harris look better and boost her chances in the 2024 election. The executive producer of 60 Minutes later quit the show, and one of its lead anchors criticized Paramount over what they characterized as increased scrutiny over news coverage of Trump following the lawsuit. Colbert said during his monologue that this was a “nuisance lawsuit,” and “Paramount knows they could have easily fought it because in their own words, ‘The lawsuit is completely without merit.'”
Colbert also referred to a news report about his show, which stated that the upcoming sale of CBS and a desire by its new owners to accommodate Trump might “put pressure on late-night host and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert.”
Questions about the politics of Colbert’s departure and Trump’s pressure on the media
Many people have questioned the decision to cancel Colbert’s show, suspecting political and not just financial motivations for doing so. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., expressed her suspicion about the timing of the cancellation.
“CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery,” Warren posted on X, formerly Twitter. “America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
The Trump administration placed pressure on news outlets through lawsuits, including the one filed against CBS. Late last year, ABC News and journalist George Stephanopoulos agreed to pay Trump $15 million to settle a suit the president filed for defamation after he repeatedly stated that Trump had been found “liable for rape” in a case filed by E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her years ago.
It appears that Trump will continue to use legal and financial threats against news outlets criticizing him; he is currently threatening to sue The Wall Street Journal over a story concerning his relationship with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Many people see these suits as methods of intimidation, and Colbert’s cancellation may be evidence that this tactic of Trump’s is working.
In a Truth Social post Friday morning, Trump mentioned, “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show,” referring to Jimmy Fallon.
