Here are the headlines: three days after CBS’s parent company Paramount paid $16 million to settle a Trumped up, meritless 60 Minutes dispute with the US president; hours after a bill passed yanking a billion dollars in funding from PBS and NPR; CBS announced that Stephen Colbert will be silenced at CBS.
Colbert mocked Trump and Paramount days earlier, telling his audience, “I don’t know if anything would ever repair my trust in this company — but, taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”
Colbert mocked and mocked and mocked. Every night, throughout Trump’s two terms as president, he has roasted the White House. To take one example, when Trump stumbled climbing up the steps to Air Force One, Colbert called him, “Benito Whoops-olini, Adolf Tripsler” and “Kim Jong Oops.”
A month ago, if anyone can remember that far back, Elon Musk tweeted this shocker: “Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That’s the real reason they have not been released.” That night on his CBS latenight show, Colbert looked like all his Christmases had come at once. “Is this a Twitter war or a cheesy gordita crunchwrap supreme? Because it’s dripping out messy filth, and I’m eating up every sloppy bite.” This week, he was shown chowing down on popcorn as news broke that much of MAGA’s base had turned on Trump over the Epstein affair.
Thursday’s announcement that CBS is bringing The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to a close after one last season (ending in May of 2026) sure looks like the schoolyard bully just stole Colbert’s lunch. Trump has raged on Truth Social that he’s had it with “failed” Colbert’s nightly spin on the president’s latest act of outrage. He’s dropped dark hints that it would please him if another Paramount employee, The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart, would also dissappear. Trump is also no fan of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel or NBC’s Seth Meyers or even Saturday Night Live.
As with all things Trump, it all comes down to money. Paramount Global needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its proposed $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. The commissioner of the FCC, appointed by Trump in June, is Olivia Britt Trusty.
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The president has effectively silenced his official opposition so muzzling the unofficial one seems just part of the plan. There have been similar payouts from ABC and Twitter. Lawsuits against newspapers (one was threated yesterday against the Wall Street Journal) seem almost routine by now.
This wouldn’t be the first time politics has canceled a TV show. Back in 1969, the Smothers Brothers wouldn’t stop chipping away at the government’s plan to keep escalating the war in Vietnam. That variety show spoke to a younger generation. Months after the inaugeration of Richard Nixon, CBS found an excuse to fire the Smothers. The series was replaced with Hee Haw.
Canadians shouldn’t get too smug. Back in the mid-’60s, CBC’s brilliant, ahead-of-it’s time public affairs sensation This Hour Has 7 Days provoked debates in the House of Parliament and was shut down despite high ratings. Last winter, had Pierre Poilievre not been side-swiped by Trump and tarriff’s, he had promised his base that de-funding CBC’s English language TV service would be among his top priorities as prime minister.
CBS insisted Thursday that the decision to end The Late Show has nothing to do with politics. After 33 years in late night, 22 of those years with David Letterman, they just no longer see it as a cost effective way to do business.
The surprise, however, is that Colbert has been the No. 1 draw in late night pretty much for his entire ten year run. There have been signs, however, that CBS was already set on making changes. In March, they canceled the show that followed Colbert, After Midnight, and announced that no new comedic series would replace that series.
I’ve been to a taping of The Late Show. Sitting in that Manhattan landmark, the Ed Sullivan Theatre, is a glorious experience. Over 200 people work on the series, A live band and free shows for 300 in the audience, plus flying in guests every night — these may be luxuries that cost too much money as network overnights continue to dwindle. Conan O’Brien and others have moved on to a much, much more cost efficient alternative talk show format — podcasting.
Mind you, the traditional network late night audience is actually larger today than it was ten years ago if you factor in all the digital views. Many of us, however, no longer watch it live. We sample monologues and other highlights in two-to-five minute blasts on Instagram or TikTok. Good exposure, but the revenue stream has simply not kept pace.
People wonder why Canada doesn’t have a late night talk show like the one CTV showcased for six seasons hosted by Mike Bullard. It isn’t political pressure that has kept that from happening, it is the cost. After 70-plus years of late night talk show successes in the United States, it seems free speech after midnight may be a luxury there as well. At least Colbert has ten more months to have his say.
