Segments of the entertainment world are still reeling after the announcement Thursday that CBS is cancelling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”Ěý
The decision comes just weeks after Paramount Global, CBS’ parent company, reached a settlement with Donald Trump over a “60 Minutes” segment the president called “one of the most egregious illegalities” in the history of broadcast television.ĚýĚý
The cancellation garnered swift condemnation from figures across pop culture, politics and journalism.ĚýĚýwrote on X that the news will make her “fight back harder” against the Trump administration, .Ěý
CBS is cancelling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May, shuttering a decades-old TV institution in a changing media landscape and removing from air one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent and persistent late-night critics. (July 18, 2025)
AP VideoActors Adam Scott and Brandon Routh, director Judd Apatow, Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, television journalist Katie Couric and actress Rachel Zegler were among those who voiced their support for Colbert in the comments of his Instagram post announcing the news.
Jon Batiste, the seven-time Grammy Award winner who served as Colbert’s bandleader and musical director from 2015 to 2022, called him “the greatest to ever do it” in an Instagram comment.Ěý
Somewhere, CBS luminaries Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite are weeping.
Somewhere, CBS luminaries Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite are weeping.
John Avlon, a former CNN analyst and Daily Beast editor-in-chief who ran an unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2024, that, given the political context, is “not the American way.”Ěý
that Colbert has “been a leading voice of sanity, integrity and decency during these troubled times.”
“We need him,” Hilburn wrote.Ěý
In a statement, the Writers Guild of America wrote that “a corporation terminating a show in bad faith due to explicit or implicit political pressure is dangerous and unacceptable in a democratic society.”
“We call on our elected leaders to hold those responsible to account, to demand answers about why this beloved program was canceled and to assure the public that Colbert and his writers were not censored due to their views or the whims of the President,” the statement read.Ěý
CBS is canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May, shuttering a decades-old TV institution in a changing media landscape and removing from air one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent and persistent late-night critics. (July 18, 2025)
AP VideoFellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was more blunt, venting his frustration in an Instagram story:
“Love you Stephen. F—- you and all your Sheldons CBS,” Kimmel wrote.Ěý
Not everyone was disappointed.Ěý, a vocal supporter of Trump, gleefully celebrated Colbert’s departure on social media, , heavily implying that the picture shows himĚýgiving a Nazi salute.
Colbert, 61, has long been a prominent Trump critic, routinely deriding his administration’s policies and conduct.
In 2024, he moderated a fundraiser with former Democratic presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and hosted then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris for a friendly interview ahead of the 2024 election.
Prior to ascending to hosting the storied CBS franchise, Colbert gained widespread recognition as a correspondent on “The Daily Show” and, subsequently, as the host of “The Colbert Report,” in which he parodied outspoken, boisterous right-wing pundits and personalities.ĚýĚý
In 2016, the Star’s Nick Patch described his “Colbert Report” personality as a “lover of rimless glasses, ‘truthy’ rhetoric and jingoistic iconography” that epitomized the stereotypicalĚý“blowhard conservative pundit character.”
David Letterman previously hosted the show, which is taped at the picturesque Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.Ěý
With files from The Associated Press
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation