(AFP) – “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” a staple of late-night US television, will end in 2026, the CBS network said, days after the comedian blasted parent company Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump as “a big fat bribe.”
CBS said in a statement the cancellation was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” and was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
“Next year will be our last season,” the host announced on Thursday’s episode, to boos and shouts of disbelief. “The network will be ending the show in May.”
Paramount reached the settlement with Trump this month in a lawsuit the entertainment giant had described as meritless. Trump had sued Paramount for $20 billion last year, alleging that CBS News’ “60 Minutes” news program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.
Paramount is meanwhile seeking to close its $8 billion merger with the entertainment company Skydance, which needs federal government approval. Colbert said on Thursday the cancellation was not just the end of his show but the end of the decades-old “Late Show” franchise, which has been broadcast continuously on CBS since 1993 and was previously hosted by David Letterman.
“I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” Colbert said.
Trump celebrated the cancellation, writing on his Truth Social platform, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.” Trump’s political opponents and other critics drew attention to the timing of the decision.
“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,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on social media platform X. “America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons,” Warren said.
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who was a guest on Colbert’s show on Thursday, said: “If Paramount and CBS ended the ‘Late Show’ for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”
The Writers Guild of America called on the New York attorney general to investigate whether the move by CBS was intended to improperly curry favor with Trump. “Given Paramount’s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that The Late Show’s cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval,” it said in a statement.
Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and one of Colbert’s rivals, posted on Instagram that “I’m just as shocked as everyone.” “I really thought I’d ride this out with him for years to come,” wrote Fallon, whom Trump had earlier referred to as “the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.” Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, whose program airs on ABC, chimed in: “Love you Stephen.”
CBS said in its Thursday statement it was “proud that Stephen called CBS home.” “He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television,” its statement said.
Colbert, once a regular on Comedy Central, made use of humor in his incisive political commentary and succeeded Letterman as the host of “The Late Show” in 2015. The late-night television landscape has long been dominated by satirical comedy shows that blend entertainment with political commentary. For decades, these programs have served as television touchstones, with hosts like Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, Letterman and — more recently — Colbert, Fallon and Kimmel shaping public discourse through humor and celebrity interviews.
– Gregory WALTON
© 2024 AFP
