US TV network is reportedly canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May. This decision would shutter a decades-old TV institution in the face of a changing media landscape and remove one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent and persistent late-night critics from the air.
The reported announcement follows Colbert’s criticism on Monday of a settlement between Trump and Paramount Global, the parent company of , regarding a “60 Minutes” story.
Colbert allegedly told his audience at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater on Wednesday night that after a decade on air, “next year will be our last season. … It’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.” The audience reportedly responded with boos and groans.
“Yeah, I share your feelings,” the 61-year-old comic purportedly said.
Three top Paramount and executives purportedly stated that Colbert’s show was “a staple of the nation’s zeitgeist” in a statement that claimed the potential cancellation “is 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.”
In his Monday monologue, Colbert expressed that he was “offended” by the reported $16 million settlement reached by Paramount. The sale of Paramount to Skydance Media is pending and requires approval from the Trump administration. He reportedly called the deal “a big fat bribe.”
“I don’t know if anything — anything — will repair my trust in this company,” Colbert allegedly said. “But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”
Trump had sued Paramount Global over the editing of its interview with Democratic then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris by last fall. Critics believe the company settled primarily to expedite the Skydance sale.
Colbert took over “The Late Show” in 2015 after gaining prominence in comedy and news satire through his work with Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” and hosting “The Colbert Report,” which parodied right-wing talk shows.
Recent Nielsen ratings reportedly show Colbert gaining viewers this year and winning his timeslot among broadcasters, with approximately 2.417 million viewers across 41 new episodes. On Tuesday, Colbert’s “Late Show” received its sixth Primetime Emmy Award nomination for outstanding talk show. The show won a Peabody Award in 2021.
David Letterman began hosting “The Late Show” in 1993. When Colbert took over, he incorporated more political commentary into the show. In addition to musicians and movie stars, Colbert often welcomes 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.” Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts issued a similar statement.
Colbert’s counterpart on , Jimmy Kimmel, posted on Instagram “Love you Stephen” and directed an expletive at .
Actor and producer Jamie Lee Curtis mentioned in an interview in Los Angeles that the supposed cancellation coincided with the House passing a bill approving Trump’s request to cut funding to public broadcasters NPR and PBS.
“They’re trying to silence people, but that won’t work. Won’t work. We will just get louder,” said Curtis, who has criticized Trump and is scheduled to appear on Colbert’s show soon.
Colbert has frequently targeted Trump. The guests on his debut show in September 2015 were actor George Clooney and Jeb Bush, who was struggling in his Republican presidential primary campaign against Trump at the time.
“Governor Bush was the governor of Florida for eight years,” Colbert told his audience. “And you would think that that much exposure to oranges and crazy people would have prepared him for Donald Trump. Evidently not.”
Late-night TV has been facing economic pressures for years; ratings and ad revenue are decreasing, and younger viewers often prefer highlights online, which networks struggle to monetize.
recently canceled host Taylor Tomlinson’s “After Midnight,” which aired after “The Late Show.” Despite this, Colbert has consistently led the network’s late-night viewership. While has addressed economic challenges by eliminating the band on Seth Meyers’ show and reducing Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” to four nights a week, no such measures have been visibly implemented at “The Late Show.”
Bill Carter, author of “The Late Shift,” suggests that Colbert’s consistent criticism of Trump, his comments about the settlement, and the parent company’s pending sale cannot be ignored. “If CBS thinks people are just going to swallow this, they’re really deluded,” Carter said.
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