There seem to be more questions than answers following The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's cancellation by CBS. While we get a few more months of episodes, the long-running late night franchise will be coming to a complete halt, with the host clearly disappointed when he shared the news with his audience a few weeks ago. Now, staffers at CBS are confessing their true feelings about the show being axed, and why they believe there is more to the picture than the network is saying.
An unnamed staffer at CBS spoke with Fox News recently and shared what they believe may have led to the show being axed. The network has been firm the Colbert decision was purely financial, and is representative of the viewership decline across late night all together.
However, this staffer thinks that there is more to it, and that Colbert’s outspoken viewpoint on the current presidency may have something to do with it. They told Fox:
I am having a hard time believing it. I’ve lost interest in extreme POVs on either end, but I see this as a chilling of free speech and the timing seems to send a strong message that this is cause and effect for what he said about the settlement.
For context, Paramount and Skydance have been trying to push a merger through with the FCC. For this to be effective, they need government approval to ensure the merger does not classify as an illegal monopoly. Simultaneously, the Trump administration has been anti-Stephen Colbert, due to his strong political commentary often in opposition of the government.
Clearly the CBS staffer and others believe this was a contributing factor to CBS axing the show, especially after Colbert went after Paramount for settling a lawsuit with the president that resulted in the parent company paying $16 million to Donald Trump. This particular staffer believes that appealing to the current administration is imperative to the merger being approved, and getting rid of Colbert’s platform would garner presidential support. They said:
The CBS leadership could have cloaked it somehow, but made a decision not to. This one action against Colbert will change multiple peoples’ willingness to give their opinions or perspectives - that’s how I see it.
Previously, a producer for David Letterman asserted that this all had a lot to do with Colbert being a threat to a corporate merger, and the WGA have called an investigation into effect to determine if cancelling the show had to do with limiting free speech. On the other hand, there have been mass reports of financial issues plaguing CBS and Paramount, hence the merger. It's been noted The Late Show is allegedly losing $40 million dollars a year, despite being number one in the ratings against other traditional talk shows, which is the line CBS seems to be towing.
Decisions like these are complicated, and whatever the true reason is (or reasons are), one thing is for sure: This is a major shake up in the late night landscape. What was once an easy path to strong ratings and lucrative advertisements is quickly becoming less sustainable, and we will have to see how this affects the look of late night television going forward.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will remain on the 2025 TV schedule until May, so you can still see the show weeknights at 11:30pm on CBS. Or, you can also revisit past episodes now with a Paramount+ subscription.
