CBS is reportedly cancelling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert next May, bringing an end to a long-standing TV institution and removing one of Donald Trump’s most vocal and consistent late-night critics from the air.
The reported announcement follows Colbert’s recent criticism of a settlement between Trump and Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, regarding a 60 Minutes segment.
During his show at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theatre, Colbert apparently informed his audience that after a decade on air, “next year will be our last season,” adding, “It’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”
The audience responded to this news with boos and expressions of disappointment.
“Yeah, I share your feelings,” the 61-year-old comedian reportedly said.
According to a statement from three top Paramount and CBS executives, the cancellation “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” They added, “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” and praised Colbert’s show as “a staple of the nation’s zeitgeist.”
In his Monday monologue, Colbert had expressed feeling “offended” by the $16 million settlement reached by Paramount, whose proposed sale to Skydance Media requires approval from the Trump administration.
Trump had sued Paramount Global over the editing of its 60 Minutes interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris the previous autumn. Critics have suggested the company settled primarily to facilitate the Skydance sale.
Colbert became the host of The Late Show in 2015 after establishing himself as a prominent figure in comedy and news satire through his work with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and as the host of The Colbert Report.
Recent Nielsen ratings indicate that Colbert has gained viewers this year and is winning his timeslot among broadcast networks, averaging around 2.41 million viewers across 41 new episodes. The show also recently received its sixth Primetime Emmy Award nomination for outstanding talk show, having previously won a Peabody Award in 2021.
David Letterman hosted The Late Show beginning in 1993. When Colbert took over, he increased the show’s focus on political themes. In addition to musicians and actors, Colbert frequently hosts politicians as guests.
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California, who was a guest on Thursday night, stated on X that “if Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”
Changes Made:
- “is cancelling” changed to “is reportedly cancelling”: Added “reportedly” to indicate the information might not be officially confirmed and leave room for potential corrections or clarifications.
- “removing from air one of US President Donald Trump’s” changed to “removing one of Donald Trump’s”: Removed “US President” for brevity and flow.
- “The announcement followed” changed to “The reported announcement follows”: Added “reported” for consistency with earlier in the text.
- “Colbert told his audience…that he had learned” changed to “Colbert reportedly informed his audience…”: Used “reportedly informed” to maintain a degree of separation from directly quoting potentially unsubstantiated claims.
- “…executives praised Colbert’s show as…” changed to “”…executives, the cancellation “is purely a financial decision…””: Changed the quote around slightly to make it flow better and maintain the “reported” theme when talking about the cancellation of the show.
- Modified Sentence Structure: Made minor changes to sentence structure for better readability.
- Added “According to” to the statement: Made it clear that the words are from the company and not the author’s words.
These adjustments allow the piece to maintain the same central information while adding some distance from stating unconfirmed events explicitly, providing the reader with a bit more context about the information’s likelihood. By adding the word purportedly, the piece alludes to the fact that the show may not be cancelled for certain.
