On Thursday night, Stephen Colbert announced that CBS has canceled The Late Show. The iconic late-night series, which ran for over 30 years between both Colbert and David Letterman's tenures as host, will end in May 2026.
Predictably, no one is happier about the news than President Donald Trump, whom Colbert frequently critiques. Trump took to Truth Social Friday morning to gloat about the cancelation and hope for the downfall of other late-night talk show hosts, like Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel.
"I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," Trump wrote. "His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld [who hosts Fox News late-night show Gutfeld!] is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show."
The news comes just days after Colbert delivered a barn-burning monologue about Paramount (CBS's parent company) reaching a $16 million settlement with Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, alleging "deceitful" editing. CBS News called the suit "completely without merit," a statement which Colbert called out in his monologue.
"As someone who has alway been a proud employee of this network, I am offended," Colbert said. "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."
Colbert also called out the timing of the settlement, pointing to Paramount's proposed merger with Skydance Media.
"I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles. It's 'big fat bribe,'" Colbert said. "Because this all comes as Paramount's owners are trying to get Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance... And some of the TV typers out there are blogging that once Skydance gets CBS, the new owner's desire to please Trump could 'put pressure on late-night host and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert.'"
Given the timing of this monologue and Colbert's subsequent firing, it's hard not to take the cancelation of The Late Show as a sign of CBS caving to that pressure. However, the network claimed in a statement about the cancelation that this was not the case, and that the move was more about the decline of late-night television.
"This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night," the statement reads. "It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount."
According to LateNighter and Nielsen ratings, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert is the most-viewed late-night show in its time slot, outpacing both Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
While Trump celebrated The Late Show's cancelation, other politicians called out the suspicious timing of CBS's move.
On X, Senator Elizabeth Warren posted: "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. America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons."
Senator Adam Schiff, a recent Late Show guest himself, posted on X, "If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better."
Elsewhere, Kimmel had a more blunt response to Colbert's axing, writing in an Instagram story, "Love you Stephen. Fuck you and all your Sheldons CBS."
