<p id=”par-1_67″>Over 10 years after Stephen Colbert took over <em>The Late Show</em> after David Letterman retired, the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/cbs-forfeiting-late-night-crown-canceling-stephen-colbert-expert.html/”>long-running talk show will end</a>. While CBS described this as a purely financial decision, many critics said the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/farrah-abraham-other-reality-stars-politics.html/”>decision was political</a>. Letterman has defended Colbert ahead of the show’s final episode. He also believes that this could mark a grim future not just for late night, but for television in general.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-david-letterman-spoke-about-the-shows-replacing-stephen-colbert-s-late-night-slot”>David Letterman spoke about the shows replacing Stephen Colbert’s late night slot</h2>
<p id=”par-2_64″>The last episode of <em>The Late Show With Stephen Colbert</em> will air on May 21, 2026. The next day, billionaire Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group will take over the time slot. They will air the show <em>Comics Unleashed</em>, followed by the game show <em>Funny You Should Ask</em>. Allen will sell his own ads for <em>Comics Unleashed</em>, which represents a new business model for CBS.</p>
<p id=”par-3_58″>“I was recently driving around on an interstate and all I would see was these rental places where you store your stuff. And I just thought these didn’t used to exist,” Letterman told <a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/arts/television/david-letterman-stephen-colbert-the-late-show-cbs.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>The New York Times</a>. “You used to have to be responsible for your own stuff. But now everywhere you look there’s warehouses and rental facilities.”</p>
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<p id=”par-4_14″>Letterman views this as an apt comparison to what CBS is doing with Allen.</p>
<p id=”par-5_58″>“I think that’s not a bad parallel for what’s happening in network television,” he said. “We now have this, but we’re just going to lease it to Byron Allen and he’ll make pennies on every dollar or whatever he’s making. But you know, everything changes in life, as people of a certain age understand, both good and bad.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_24″>Letterman noted that while there are still <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/dolly-parton-revealed-truth-behind-flirty-relationship-johnny-carson.html/”>late night talk shows</a> on the air, he’s not sure that the format will continue to survive.</p>
<p id=”par-7_35″>“It’s not completely dead on arrival, but I would be surprised if it lasts more than a year or so,” he said. “But it’s such an easy soothing format that it’s got to stay on.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_8″>Still, he’s hopeful that some shows will last.</p>
<p id=”par-9_19″>“I don’t think it’ll ever go away because it’s just the best,” he said. “It’s humans talking to humans.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-david-letterman-accused-cbs-of-lying-about-stephen-colbert-s-cancellation”>David Letterman accused CBS of lying about Stephen Colbert’s cancellation</h2>
<p id=”par-10_55″>CBS canceled <em>The Late Show With Stephen Colbert</em> amid parent company Paramount’s multi-billion-dollar merger with Skydance. This merger required the approval of the FCC under the Trump administration. Colbert is a vocal critic of Trump, leaving many to believe that the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/jimmy-kimmel-scored-legal-victory-week-show-returned-air.html/”>decision was political</a>. Trump celebrated the cancellation on social media after the news broke.</p>
<p id=”par-11_11″>Still, CBS insists that the decision was financial. Letterman doubts this.</p>
<p id=”par-12_49″>“He was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, ‘Oh no, there’s not going to be any trouble with that guy. We’re going to take care of the show. We’re just going to throw that into the deal. When will the ink on the check dry?’”</p>
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<p id=”par-13_9″>He went on the record to call them liars.</p>
<p id=”par-14_24″>“I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying,” he said. “Let me just add one other thing, Jason. They’re lying weasels.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-he-shared-how-he-first-reacted-to-the-news-of-the-cancellation-nbsp”>He shared how he first reacted to the news of the cancellation </h2>
<p id=”par-15_27″>Letterman said his first reaction to the Colbert cancellation was “disbelief.” Then, he learned about Skydance’s David Ellison buying Paramount with backing from his father, Larry Ellison.</p>
<p id=”par-16_65″>“When we got the facts about the Ellison family, I took great delight in referring to the principal as the Ellison Twins,” he said. “I was later corrected and told it’s just one guy. I didn’t care and I still refer to him as twins … And the Ellison twins are willy-nilly spending the old man’s money. So that was what ran through my head.”</p>
<p id=”par-17_19″>He said he didn’t think of the fact that a show <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/david-letterman-opens-up-about-the-best-part-of-retirement.html/”>he’d once hosted </a>was ending until much later.</p>
<p id=”par-18_56″>“Then I wondered: What the hell have they done to Stephen [Colbert]? And I would say farther down on the list is your point: Wait a minute, this used to be my show,” he said. “It’s like driving by your old neighborhood and realizing that where you used to live, they’re putting up an adult bookstore.”</p>
<p id=”par-19_21″>While he said he now feels separate from “the genealogy of the show,” he’s happy to feel outrage on its behalf.</p>