Late Show host Stephen Colbert made a shocking announcement on Thursday, revealing that the long-running talk show had been axed after more than 30 years on air. The news comes mere days after Colbert accused CBS' parent company Paramount of paying a "big fat bribe" to President Donald Trump.
"Next year will be our last season," said Colbert to his audience's dismay. "The network will be ending The Late Show in May."
The Late Show's first iteration premiered in 1993, with renowned host David Letterman behind the desk for 22 years. Colbert took the reins following Letterman's 2015 retirement and quickly made it his own, scoring multiple Emmy nominations in the decade since. The Late Show regularly tops the Nielsen ratings, outstripping competing talk shows, and it attracted over 2.4 million viewers across 41 episodes in Q2 alone this year. As such, few in his audience likely expected the popular show's untimely demise.
"It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of 'The Late Show' on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away."
Colbert's announcement of The Late Show's cancellation on Thursday sparked a loud round of booing, to which the host responded that he shares such sentiments. The unhappy news is apparently still fresh to him, with Colbert stating that he'd just found out the previous night.
"It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of The Late Show on CBS," Colbert continued. "I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away."
Despite the sudden cancellation, Colbert still thanked CBS and the Tiffany network, as well as his audience and the 200 people who work on the show.
"We get to do this show for each other every day all day, and I've had the pleasure and the responsibility of sharing what we do every day with you in front of this camera for the last 10 years," said Colbert. "And let me tell you, it is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it. And it's a job that I'm looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another 10 months."
CBS claims 'Late Show' cancellation unrelated to Colbert's criticism
CBS issued a statement on Thursday night following Colbert's announcement, in which it confirmed its decision to end The Late Show.
"This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night," wrote CBS executives. "It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount."
Said "other matters" appears to reference the recent lawsuit Trump filed against Paramount in October. In it, Trump alleged that Paramount had deceptively edited a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to be favourable to her ahead of the November presidential election. Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle the suit earlier this month, a decision that has been lambasted by First Amendment and press freedom advocates.
Colbert has also been vocally critical of this settlement, labelling it a "big fat bribe" on Monday and stating that Paramount itself called the lawsuit "completely without merit." He further noted that Paramount has been trying to secure the Trump administration's approval of its proposed merger with Skydance Media — an effort that likely wouldn't be helped by an ongoing lawsuit with the president.
The Skydance-Paramount merger is yet to be approved by the FCC. However, on Wednesday, Trump appeared to support the merger and praised Skydance CEO David Ellison when speaking to reporters, the same day Colbert was informed of The Late Show's cancellation. The president then immediately began speaking about his lawsuit with Paramount.
Colbert has been a prominent critic of Trump for years, and on Monday acknowledged speculation that he may be pressured to lay off the president should Paramount's merger with Skydance go through. It now looks as though this won't be a concern any longer.
Of course, not everyone is buying CBS' explanation, particularly in light of Colbert's recent comments and The Late Show's steady success with viewers.
"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," Senator Elizabeth Warren posted to X. "America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons."
"Just finished taping with Stephen Colbert who announced his show was cancelled," wrote Senator Adam Schiff. "If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better."
