Mourning The Loss of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
What this cancellation means for entertainment television.
BY Juliet Seith ★ July 27th, 2025
Design: Ryann Toussaint
Personally, I never stayed up late to watch The Late Show. Nor did I regularly watch episodes on Paramount+, the show’s streaming home. It could be argued that I played a part in the show’s cancellation, which CBS has claimed was “purely a financial decision.” However, I’ve long followed the show on various social media platforms, as well as other late-night talk shows like The Daily Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers and Last Week Tonight.
Hearing takes on current events in a comedic manner is a way that I, along with many others, cope with some of the unsettling and disheartening news we hear every day. While I now wish I could have supported the show more, there are reasons to suspect that the decision may have been based on more than just money.
It’s no secret that finances are often the driving factor in decisions within the entertainment industry. Netflix is notorious for canceling shows with loyal fan bases in favor of more widely watched programs. And it’s true that Stephen Colbert’s show lost more than $40 million last year, with viewership down by about 1 million since the show’s peak in 2017. Despite this, The Late Show has maintained the highest ratings among late-night shows in its timeslot.
On July 1, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, paid President Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit for “news distortion” on 60 Minutes, another CBS show. Two weeks later, Colbert called the settlement a “big fat bribe,” expressing offense and broken trust with Paramount. On July 17, CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show.
Colbert’s accusation of bribery was confusing, as ABC settled a lawsuit of $15 million with the president over six months ago for a similar issue — and nobody seemed to call them out for it. Well, behind the scenes, Paramount has been working on an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. Who did they need to approve this merger before it was official? You can probably guess….
On July 24, the federal regulators of the FCC, under President Trump, released the required approval documents. This deal took roughly 16 months to become official, and it would have been longer if President Trump had an issue with either company.
There certainly seems to be a strong motivation beyond finances for Paramount to shut down a show that is known for its anti-Trump viewpoints, especially if the host was accusing the company itself of bribery.
Unfortunately for Paramount, cancelling the show has not silenced Colbert or distracted from these allegations. In fact, it has made people more aware of the deal. On July 18, Colbert was the longest trending search on X, with many posts expressing anger on behalf of him and his show. A week later, on July 24, that honor went to South Park, whose newest episode also criticized the company’s decision to cancel The Late Show.
Several figures in both the entertainment and political world have also taken to social media in defense of Colbert. In Instagram stories, both Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon sent regards to the host, making jabs at CBS in the process. Democratic senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren were more direct with their accusations, with Schiff posting on X: “If Paramount and CBS ended The Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.” Warren took it one step further, saying that the deal looked like corruption.
In addition, the Writers Guild of America put out a statement on July 18, calling for “an investigation into potential wrongdoing at Paramount.” This union represents all writers in Hollywood and New York alike, many of whom risk unemployment if the cancellation of government-critical shows becomes more common. Late-night shows have writing teams of roughly 15-20 individuals, with a full crew count of several hundred. In his announcement of the show’s cancellation, Colbert thanked the 200 people who worked on his show alone.
While many will be losing their jobs when the show concludes in May 2026, there is just as much at risk for similar shows. If the accusations are correct and Trump played a role in cancelling the show, the celebrities who have appeared on Colbert’s show in his defence — from other late-night hosts and comedians to Sandra Oh — might face professional blowback themselves. But these are individuals with tens of millions of dollars to fall back on. The most significant impact of the cancellation will be felt by us, the viewers.
Those of us who turn to these shows to find hope will be left without a place to do so. These figureheads help us cope with current events and remind us that there is more than just our government to look towards. Considering a majority of these hosts are white men, they often use their platforms to spotlight issues others might not feel safe discussing. The death of The Late Show feels like a warning shot on the freedom of speech in entertainment media.
Today it’s the weaker, less profitable late-night shows, but it could evolve into the censoring of blockbusters with political messaging. Colbert’s show may be ending, but the conversations he started about power, media and accountability still demand answers. It’s up to us to speak up and stay alert to prevent others like him from being silenced.