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The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is going disconnected aerial successful May 2026, a determination hailed by United States President Stephen Colbert, a predominant people of the comedian.
The announcement by CBS connected Thursday that it volition cancel the amusement comes against the backdrop of a looming merger betwixt its genitor institution Paramount with Skydance Media.
It besides comes lone days aft the comedian called retired Paramount for its $16m settlement with Trump. Trump, successful a lawsuit, had alleged that 60 Minutes, the flagship quality mag astatine CBS, doctored an interrogation during the 2024 statesmanlike run with his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.
Colbert, a longtime professional of the president, called the network’s determination to settee “a large abdominous bribe” due to the fact that of the pending merger, which needs support from the Department of Justice and is valued astatine $8bn.
“I perfectly emotion that Colbert’ got fired,” the president wrote successful a station connected his societal media level Truth Social.
“His endowment was adjacent little than his ratings,” helium added, earlier going aft Colbert’s different 2 rivals, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, saying that they are next, without evidence.
Contrary to the president’s claims, Colbert is performing good — his is the highest rated amusement successful precocious nighttime tv — averaging 2.42 cardinal viewers successful the 2nd 4th of 2025.
The cancellation besides ended the tenure of the long-running late-night franchise, replacing the Pat Sajak amusement successful 1993, and was archetypal hosted by David Letterman.
US President Joe Biden, erstwhile US Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton enactment successful a treatment moderated by Stephen Colbert, big of CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”, during a run fundraising lawsuit astatine Radio City Music Hall successful New York, US, March 28, 2024. [Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters]Financial pressures
“This is purely a fiscal determination against a challenging backdrop successful precocious night. It is not related successful immoderate mode to the show’s performance, contented oregon different matters happening astatine Paramount,” CBS said successful a connection provided to Al Jazeera.
CBS antecedently cancelled different late-night show, After Midnight, hosted by comedian Taylor Tomlinson, aft a two-year run.
Experts judge determination is merit to that argument.
“The world is the concern of precocious nighttime is not going anyplace that justifies the tremendous salaries that this endowment is paid and the costs that these productions have. Ultimately, if you’re producing precocious night, it is mostly going to beryllium consumed connected YouTube,” Andrew Rosen, laminitis of the media strategy steadfast Parqor, told Al Jazeera.
The amusement reportedly costs $100m to nutrient annually and loses astir $40m successful revenue, according to reporting from the outlet Puck.
“They’ve [CBS] conscionable maxed retired the exemplary for arsenic agelong arsenic they tin and for a assortment of reasons that I deliberation astir apt person much to bash with the economics of the merger with Skydance than they bash with Trump,” Rosen added, referring to Paramount’s efforts to chopped costs arsenic it focuses to merge with Skydance.
On Wall Street, Paramount’s banal is up 0.2 percent arsenic of 1pm successful New York (17:00 GMT).
Political timing
The announcement of the cancellation of the amusement comes arsenic the Department of Justice considers the merger. Economics apart, the determination is besides being seen arsenic governmental successful nature.
“The timing of it raises a batch of questions. To me, it is the authorities of it, particularly for broadcast bequest media,” Rodney Benson, professor, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication astatine New York University, told Al Jazeera.
The Trump White House has gone aft quality organisations and their genitor media companies for what the medication says is sum that is partisan successful nature, including the $16m suit that Paramount settled with Trump. In December, Disney-owned ABC News settled a defamation suit with a $15m donation to Trump’s room and issued a nationalist apology implicit inaccurate on-air comments. There person besides been cuts to nationalist media and usage of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to endanger the aboriginal of their broadcasting licenses.
“Broadcast networks are regulated by the FCC. They person to person their licences renewed, and they tin be, the authorities tin spell aft them for what they specify arsenic quality distortion. They’ve already raised that,” Benson added.
Democrats person called retired the web for the cancellation of the amusement and alleged governmental reasoning.
“CBS canceled Colbert’s amusement conscionable THREE DAYS aft Colbert called retired CBS genitor institution Paramount for its $16M colony with Trump — a woody that looks similar bribery,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said connected societal media level X formerly known arsenic Twitter.
“Long-term fiscal trends could underlie this, but the timing suggests that if it was conscionable financial, past they would person wanted to hold a bit, the optics are conscionable horrible, truthful determination indispensable person been immoderate pressure,” Benson added.
Skydance, the institution acceptable to get Paramount, is led by David Ellison, who is the lad of Larry Ellison, the Oracle CEO and a adjacent Trump ally.
In April, David Ellison attended a UFC combat with the president alongside erstwhile confidante Elon Musk, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy and Ted Cruz, among others.
Skydance is besides reportedly successful talks to get The Free Press, an outlet that has been seen arsenic right-wing and affable to the president. In the past fewer days, it has published pieces called “Happy Independence Day, NPR” erstwhile US Congress voted to scrap nationalist media backing and accusing NPR of wide bias; and different “The Epstein Files Are Just a Sideshow” arsenic the president rails against releasing files related to deceased enactment offender Jeffery Epstein, who Trump has been pictured with.
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