Earlier this year, CBS and parent company Paramount announced the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, signifying the end of an era in TV. The announcement was followed by a wave of reactions, with a number of people expressing opposition to the notion of axing the program. While the aforementioned companies attributed the move to financial considerations, some people have theorized that it was politically motivated. Colbert himself is now weighing in on the assumptions that have since surfaced.
A primary reason there’s been political-based speculation surrounding The Late Show’s cancellation is because it came shortly after Paramount wrapped a high-profile legal situation. At that time, the company settled a $16 million lawsuit with U.S. President Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes interview involving Kamala Harris. That suit was also viewed by analysts as the final hurdle that needed to be cleared before Paramount and Skydance could receive FCC approval for their merger, which has since gone through.
Stephen Colbert criticized the lawsuit settlement on air and, just days later, he received word that his show had been canceled. The veteran host – who also announced the cancellation news on his show – reflected on that experience while speaking with GQ. Amid the conversation, the interviewer recalled how politicians like Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff opined that his show’s demise was linked to POTUS. Colbert – who’s criticized Trump numerous times – has a different take but understands why people would think that way:
I can understand why people would have that reaction because CBS or the parent corporation—I’m not going to say who made that decision, because I don’t know; no one’s ever going to tell us—decided to cut a check for $16 million to the president of the United States over a lawsuit that their own lawyers, Paramount’s own lawyers, said is completely without merit. And it is self-evident that that is damaging to the reputation of the network, the corporation, and the news division. So it is unclear to me why anyone would do that other than to curry favor with a single individual. If people have theories that associate me with that, it’s a reasonable thing to think, because CBS or the corporation clearly did it once.
Among those to express disdain over The Late Show’s cancellation were stars like Jimmy Kimmel and Bowen Yang. While there are those who believe this situation was prompted by politics and those who may disagree, Colbert indicated that he’s not planning to prop up either side of the debate:
But my side of the street is clean and I have no interest in picking up a broom or adding to refuse on the other side of the street. Not my problem. So people can have their theories. I have my feelings about not doing the show anymore, but you’d have to show me why that’s a fruitful relationship for me to have with my network for the next nine months, for me to engage in that speculation.
The Writers Guild of America called for an investigation into the CBS talk show’s cancellation, but reports of financial figures also surfaced. Said reports included figures that seemed to indicate that over the last few years, the Stephen Colbert-fronted show had been steadily losing millions of dollars in ad revenue. (Said assertion has been disputed by Jimmy Kimmel.) New Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison has been making changes and, amid that, Colbert also has thoughts on his relationship with his bosses up to this point:
I have had a great relationship with CBS. It’s one of the reasons why this was so surprising and so shocking that there was no preamble to this. We do budgets and everything like that. We’ve done cuts and stuff like that. So that’s why it was surprising to me, as I said, but I meant what I said [on air] the next night after I found out, because I couldn’t sit on it. They’ve been great partners. They really have. They’ve been very supportive.
The Late Show is set to close out its run in May 2026 and, by the time it bows out, it’ll have notched at least one high-profile award. Earlier this fall, the show won its first Emmy for Outstanding Variety Talk Series. As speculation about the cancellation continues, Colbert has made it clear that he just wants to “land this plane” and finish his run on a strong note.
New episodes of The Late Show air weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS amid the 2025 TV schedule.
