Comedian and political commentator Stephen Colbert announced Thursday night on air that CBS will cancel his “The Late Show” starting in May 2026.
Though CBS said in a statement that canceling the show was “purely a financial decision” not related to its performance or content, the announcement follows Colbert’s criticism of a settlement between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company.
Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over edits to an October 2024 interview conducted on CBS’s “60 Minutes” with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Colbert, who frequently skewered Trump on his show, called the settlement a “big fat bribe” on air this Monday.
Press freedom groups and advocates said Trump’s lawsuit, which accused CBS of editing the interview to portray Harris more favorably, was “frivolous” — and the settlement, according to them, will further embolden the president’s attacks against the media.
Some Democratic politicians accused Paramount of engaging in a quid pro quo with the Trump administration to get it to approve the company’s pending multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance Media.
“I don’t know if anything, anything will repair my trust in this company,” Colbert said Monday on his show. “But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”
On Thursday, he said that “The Late Show” would end, as he is “not being replaced. This is all just going away” — as the audience responded with loud boos.
“The Late Show” was first aired in 1993, and Colbert took over as host in 2015.
