Stephen Colbert just dropped a bombshell on his live audience — “The Late Show” is coming to an end. CBS is pulling the plug on the late-night staple next May, ending Colbert’s 10-season run and closing a major chapter in the world of network TV comedy.
The news came Thursday, just days after Colbert openly criticized a $16 million settlement between Donald Trump and CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, over a “60 Minutes” piece. But CBS insists the cancellation has nothing to do with the show’s content or performance.
“This is all just going away,” Colbert told the crowd Wednesday night at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. “I’m not being replaced.”
The audience responded with loud boos and groans — and Colbert didn’t hide his own disappointment. “Yeah, I share your feelings,” he added.
In a joint statement, CBS and Paramount execs called Colbert’s run “a staple of the nation’s zeitgeist,” and said the decision to end the show was “purely financial,” blaming the tough economics of late-night TV — not ratings, politics, or internal drama.
Still, the timing raised eyebrows. Earlier in the week, Colbert used his monologue to slam the Paramount-Trump deal, joking that the $16 million settlement felt like “a big fat bribe.” The deal comes as Paramount looks to finalize its merger with Skydance Media — a move that still needs greenlight from the Trump administration.
Colbert, 61, has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics in late night and has consistently led ratings in the genre. Now, with CBS officially pulling the plug, it’s another sign of how much traditional late-night TV is shifting in the streaming era.
With input from the AP News.
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