Stephen Colbert announces Late Show cancelled by CBS
Colbert took over The Late Show in 2015.
CBS is cancelling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert next May, ending a decades-old TV institution and removing from air one of US President Donald Trump’s most prominent and persistent late-night critics.
The announcement followed Colbert’s criticism on Monday of a settlement between Mr Trump and Paramount Global, parent company of CBS, over a 60 Minutes story.
Colbert told his audience at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theatre that he had learned on Wednesday night 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 with boos and groans.
“Yeah, I share your feelings,” the 61-year-old comic said.
Three top Paramount and CBS executives praised Colbert’s show as “a staple of the nation’s zeitgeist” in a statement that said the cancellation “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night”, adding: “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
In his Monday monologue, Colbert said he was “offended” by the 16 million dollar settlement reached by Paramount, whose pending sale to Skydance Media needs the Trump administration’s approval.
Mr Trump had sued Paramount Global over how 60 Minutes edited its interview last autumn with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Critics say the company settled primarily to clear a hurdle to the Skydance sale.
Colbert took over The Late Show in 2015 after becoming a big name in comedy and news satire working with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and hosting The Colbert Report.
The most recent ratings from Nielsen show Colbert gaining viewers so far this year and winning his timeslot among broadcasters, with about 2.41 million viewers across 41 new episodes. On Tuesday, Colbert’s Late Show landed its sixth nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding talk show. It won a Peabody Award in 2021.
David Letterman began hosting The Late Show in 1993. When Colbert took over, he deepened its engagement with politics. Alongside musicians and film stars, Colbert often welcomes politicians to his couch.
Democratic senator Adam Schiff, of California, was a guest on Thursday night. Mr Schiff said on X that “if Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better”.
