NEED TO KNOW
Three days before The Late Show was canceled by CBS, longtime host Stephen Colbert openly criticized the network’s parent company for its sizable settlement with President Donald Trump.
For months, Trump was in legal talks with Paramount after accusing journalists at 60 Minutes of deceptively editing a 2024 interview with his presidential election opponent, Kamala Harris.
Paramount — which will need the Trump administration’s approval to complete its merger with Skydance Media — did not apologize or express regret for how CBS News journalists handled the story, but recently agreed to settle the lawsuit anyway and make a $16 million donation to Trump’s future presidential library.
On Monday, July 14, Colbert slammed Paramount for giving into Trump’s demands.
“I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: it’s ‘big, fat bribe,’ ” Colbert said on The Late Show.
Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty
Later in the week, during his Thursday, July 17, taping, Colbert made the announcement that his show would be ending after 10 seasons, with CBS insisting in a followup statement that the cancellation was “purely a financial decision” and was unrelated to The Late Show’s performance or content.
Within hours of the news breaking, two prominent Democratic politicians began raising questions about 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,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote on X. “America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
California Sen. Adam Schiff, who was a guest on The Late Show when Colbert made the announcement, also posted a message on X after finishing the taping, writing, “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”
By Friday morning, Trump had taken to Truth Social to celebrate the news of Colbert’s upcoming exit.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” he wrote, adding, “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS via Getty
CBS cited a “challenging backdrop in late night” as the rationale behind the decision.
The statement added that Colbert’s show has been “#1 in late night for nine straight seasons,” and The Hill reported Friday that The Late Show is the most-watched talk show in its time slot and averages just under 2.5 million viewers, based on data from the second quarter of 2025.
“Our admiration, affection, and respect for the talents of Stephen Colbert and his incredible team made this agonizing decision even more difficult,” CBS’ statement said. “Stephen has taken CBS late night by storm with cutting-edge comedy, a must-watch monologue and interviews with leaders in entertainment, politics, news and newsmakers across all areas.”
