Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images
- CBS is canceling its most-watched talk show, "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert."The show, which has been running for more than three decades, will end in May 2026.CBS said the cancellation was "purely a financial decision."
CBS announced on Thursday that "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" will be canceled after next year, ending a series that has been running for more than three decades.
Colbert announced the talk show's cancellation on Thursday via a clip of his new episode, posted on Instagram.
"Before we start the show, I want to let you know something I found out just last night," he said. "Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending 'The Late Show' in May."
His announcement was followed by a long wave of boos from the audience.
Colbert took over as host of the talk show previously helmed by David Letterman in 2015, and has been running it for the last 10 years. The show was first aired in 1993.
CBS executives said in a statement to The New York Times on Thursday that the cancellation was "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," the statement to the NYT added.
Ratings from the American audience measurement company, Nielsen, seen by several news outlets, show that "The Late Show" performed well in its timeslot. The show notched 2.417 million viewers across 41 new episodes, and was the only late-night show to gain viewers in 2025.
The cancellation comes shortly after Paramount, on July 1, agreed to pay President Donald Trump a $16 million settlement over a lawsuit the president filed against it. The lawsuit accused CBS's "60 Minutes" of "deceptive editing" of his interview with presidential rival Kamala Harris.
Colbert referenced the settlement in an episode on July 14, titled "A Big Bribe."
Making a joke about the settlement, he said, "As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended, and I don't know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company. But just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help."
Lawmakers have sounded out concerns about the show's cancellation, asking CBS if the decision was political in nature.
Sen. Adam Schiff of California was one of the first to comment on it.
"Just finished taping with Stephen Colbert who announced his show was cancelled," Schiff wrote in a late Thursday evening X post.
"If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better," Schiff added.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts released a statement just hours after the cancellation announcement.
"CBS canceled Colbert's show just three days after Colbert called out CBS owner Paramount for its $16 settlement with Trump — a deal that looks like bribery. America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons," Warren said.
Trump has been a regular topic on Colbert's show — particularly during his opening monologues. He's also touched on some of the administration's major scandals, including in his Wednesday episode, where he mentioned Trump and the disgraced financier, Jeffrey Epstein.
In September, Trump criticized Colbert in a Truth Social post.
"Why would they be wasting time and the public's money on this complete and total loser? He is not funny, which he gets paid far too much to be, he is not wise, he is VERY BORING, and his show is dying from a complete lack of viewers," Trump wrote in the post.
Representatives for CBS and Paramount did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
