The Topline

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was abruptly cancelled amid a week after CBS paid Donald Trump a $16 million settlement and amidst parent-company Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media.
Comedians, including Colbert’s former Daily Show colleagues Jon Stewart and John Oliver, criticized CBS for its corporate cowardice. Critics of the show argued that it was too partisan and that the late-night format is no longer financially viable

Corporate Cowardice Wins The Day

The surprise news that CBS was cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert sent comedians, left-wing commentators and journalists into something of a tizzy. While CBS claimed the stalwart late night program was losing money – a 40 per cent drop in ad revenue since 2018 and a viewership decline from 3.1 to 1.9 million, according to Reuters – critics of the move claimed the ratings were strong. Why cancel the top-performing late-night program all together when other measures to cut costs could have salvaged the program?

Well, for one, Paramount was pursuing approval for an $8-billion merger with Skydance Media, which is owned by David Ellison, the son of a close Trump ally, Larry Ellison, and which requires Federal Communications Commission clearance. CBS had, just the week before, agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump, which accused 60 Minutes of editing an interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris. Colbert, on the Monday before he announced his cancellation live on TV, had roasted CBS for the decision. The timing of it all led many to question CBS’s motives.

Let’s dive in.

What the Late Night Gang Said

On The Daily Show, John Stewart accused CBS and Paramount of ending The Late Show for appeasing the Trump administration during its Skydance merger approval. “Was this purely financial? Or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger?” he said, then adding later, “The shows that you now seek to cancel, censor and control—a not insignificant portion of that $8 billion value came from those fucking shows—that’s what made you that money.”

David Letterman, Colbert’s predecessor and Late Show creator, called the move " gutless” and questioned CBS’s claim of sudden financial losses, saying, “If they were losing this kind of money[…] I’ll bet they were losing this kind of money six weeks ago, or they have never been losing money.”

John Oliver, whose Last Week Tonight (HBO) is currently on summer break, called the news “terrible[…] news for the world of comedy.” Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, expressed anxiety about the sustainability of politically aware late-night. Jimmy Kimmel, host of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, meanwhile , had a more direct message : “F— you and all your Sheldons CBS.”

Then there’s South Park. The long-running Comedy Central satirical cartoon took direct aim at Trump, the cancellation of The Late Show and Paramount (Comedy Central’s parent company) with its 27th season-opener, titled “Sermon on the ’Mount.” South Park’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, had signed a $1.5 billion, five‑year deal with Paramount+ just the week before, and went whole hog on the network, attacking the show’s controversial corporate dealings – and angering Trump in the process. Colbert later hailed the episode in his monologue, calling it “a message of hope” and a signal of creative freedom over censorship

Thoughts From Political Leaders and Media Personalities

Democratic leader chimed in, with Senator Elizabeth Warren demanded a public explanation, noting that CBS canceled Colbert’s show just three days after he called out Paramount’s $16 million settlement with Trump, and stating that Americans “deserve to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.” Senator Adam Schiff, a recent (and frequent) guest on Colbert’s show, said, “If Paramount and CBS ended The Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”

Margaret Sullivan, former media columnist for The Guardian , warned that the Trump settlement with CBS is a "bad omen," questioning whether Colbert’s harsh criticism of the network's parent triggered his cancellation just days later. She framed it as a troubling signal for journalistic freedom and media accountability. Connie Chung, former longtime CBS anchor, warned on CNN that the Skydance merger could spell the “end of honest journalism” at CBS. She expressed concern that the network’s media heritage, dating all the way back to the era of Walter Cronkite, are at risk in the age of Trump.

According to Reuters, the cancellation is seen as emblematic of the broader decline of late-night TV – a format losing relevance amid streaming and social media – while mainstream media continues to fold under pressure from Trump.

Dude Finally Got What Was Coming To Him

The response on the right was somewhat muted in comparison to the reactions on the left, and to those in support of freedom of the press. But given that Stephen Colbert had been relentlessly criticizing President Donald Trump and his administration for the better part of a decade, right-leaning critics argued that the Late Show is the culmination of an ideological imbalance on late night TV. Where were the conservative voices? Never mind the declining ratings and what they claimed to be failure to adapt to a shifting media environment.

Nate Silver, for example, interpreted the conservative view as seeing Colbert’s cancellation as evidence he "wasn’t funny anymore" and was overly politicized. For them, this is less a story of political censorship than a pragmatic and necessary decision.

Except For Trump…

President Donald Trump celebrated the cancellation via Truth Social, writing, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.” He later suggested that hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon would be next (though Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s The Late Late Show has escaped the president’s ire…for now). Trump’s statement’s made clear the ideological motivations for the cancellation – and further fueling arguments from the left that the cancellation was politically motivated.

What Right-Leading Entertainers Said

Jay Leno, former host of NBC’s The Tonight Show, said in an interview with The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation that a heightened partisan comedy environment is alienating mainstream audiences. He advocated for non-partisan humor and said that viewers prefer laughs rather than lecture, criticizing Colbert and other hosts for dividing their audience with aggressive attacks against Trump.

Rob Schneider, a vocal Trump supporter, criticized Colbert for failing to include conservative voices on his show and instead feeding into the liberal echo chamber. Schneider did acknowledged Colbert’s criticism of a CBS legal settlement, but argued that more intellectual political debate would have benefited The Late Show.

The Views From Conservative Media

The New York Post l ed its July 27 edition with a cover featuring Colbert with the headline “The Left Show,” claiming Colbert had hosted “176 lefties, 1 GOPer (which was Chris Christie, a former Trump ally-turned-critic when he took a run at the GOP nomination for the 2024 election cycle) since 2022. Bill O’Reilly celebrated the cancellation on his No Spin News podcast , arguing that Colbert’s show failed because it excluded conservative guests and alienated viewers. He suggested, “‘If Colbert invited me, his ratings would double,’” and predicted a broader ideological shift at CBS post-merger with Skydance Media. Piers Morgan, meanwhile, took to X to criticize Colbert’s program for being a “hyper-partisan activist hack.”

Media Analysts and Industry Insiders

It hasn’t been all celebrations in right-wing media. Fox News reported that CBS staffers privately expressed concern about the move, calling Colbert’s cancellation a “chilling of free speech,” while others said the timing was suspicious due to internal backlash over Colbert’s criticism of the Trump settlement.

Notably absent from the discussion has been podcaster Joe Rogan, a comedian who regularly claims the rights of free speech as paramount (no pun intended). Still, conservative-leaning outlets noted that Colbert had notoriously few conservative guests. Supporters of CBS’s decision argued the format had stagnated, with the show losing tens of millions of dollars annually and failing to grow via social media