Before “Late Night” host Stephen Colbert announced Thursday that CBS was ending his show next May, Jon Stewart also speculated that Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” which he hosts, could be on the line.
Like Colbert, Stewart is an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and both blasted Paramount, the parent company that owns CBS and Comedy Central, over its recent decision to pay the president $16 million to settle a lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris.
On Thursday’s “The Weekly Show,” a companion podcast with “The Daily Show,” Stewart said he didn’t know whether Skydance, the movie studio trying to close the deal to buy Paramount, would cancel his show, the Daily Beast reported. He said he had not heard from the company.
“They haven’t called me and said like, ‘Don’t get too comfortable in that office, Stewart,’” the comedian joked, according to the Daily Beast. “But let me tell you something, I’ve been kicked out of (more expletive) establishments than that. We’ll land on our feet. No, I honestly don’t know.”
Skydance and Paramount are in the midst of the multibillion-dollar merger, which requires approval from the Trump administration, specifically the Federal Communications Commission. The cancellation of “The Late Show” raised immediate questions about whether it was tied to the government’s review of the merger or Paramount’s recent decision to settle with Trump, the New York Times reported.
Earlier this week, Colbert, who has hosted the “Late Show” for a decade, called Paramount’s decision to settle with Trump “a big fat bribe,” the New York Times reported. On July 8, Stewart similarly said on “The Daily Show” that the payment reeked of “fealty” and questioned its legality. “I’m obviously not a lawyer, but I did watch ‘Goodfellas,’” he said. The long-time “Daily Show” host added that news networks are “being held to a standard that will never be satisfactory to Donald Trump” and “no one can ever kiss his (expletive) enough.”
CBS executives said in a statement Thursday that the abrupt cancellation of “The Late Show” was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” the New York Times reported.
“It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” said the executives, who included George Cheeks, the president of CBS and a co-chief executive of Paramount. “Our admiration, affection and respect for the talents of Stephen Colbert and his incredible team made this agonizing decision even more difficult.”
In his remarks Thursday night, Colbert tried to avoid controversy and to strike a gracious tone as she spoke about his CBS bosses — even though he said they only let him know “just last night” that he would be out of a job in 2026, when his contract expires, and that there would no more “Late Show.”
“It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it,” Colbert said. “I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany Network for giving me this chair, and this beautiful theater to call home.”
It’s true that late-night broadcast and cable television has been struggling in recent years as the majority of the country migrates to streaming entertainment, as New York Times reported. Last month, streaming overtook broadcast and cable as the leading distribution method for video entertainment for the first time. CNN’s media analyst Brian Stelter also reported that “The Late Show” has been losing money, even though it rates No. 1 in its time slot, over rivals Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon. But late-night shows like Colbert’s are inherently expensive to produce — with “The Late Show” losing as much as $40 million a year — while all these shows seeing a decline in ad revenues, Puck Founder Matthew Belloni also said.
But these financial issues have not stopped stop critics from asking questions about the decision to end Colbert’s show — especially about the timing, so soon after the host criticized Paramount’s settlement with Trump. Speculation that both Cobert and Stewart’s shows were at risk was first raised last week by media critic Oliver Darcy. On Status Darcy reported that Skydance, led David Ellison, the son of pro-Trump billionaire Larry Ellison, appears eager to rid CBS of what they see “as a liberal taint.” Belloni also reported on a plan at CBS to hire Bari Weiss, founder of the center-right media brand, The Free Press, to be an “ideological guide of sorts” at the news division, which would be run by David Rhodes, a former CBS News head and a current executive as Sky TV in the U.K.
Colbert, meanwhile, is a Comedy Central alum, who got his start in TV as a correspondent for Stewart on “The Daily Show,” a news parody show. He became a household name for “The Colbert Report,” playing a parody of a right-wing cable TV host before taking over “The Late Night” gig in 2015.
Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, who was a guest on Colbert’s show Thursday, said on social media Thursday night: “If Paramount and CBS ended the ‘Late Show’ for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”
Likewise, Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said in a statement: “CBS canceled Colbert’s show just three days after Colbert called out CBS owner Paramount for its $16 million settlement with Trump — a deal that looks like bribery.”
Trump celebrated the decision to end Colbert’s show, writing on his Truth Social platform: “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
For his part, Kimmel blasted CBS’s decision to end the show of his late-night rival, who also is his friend, the Daily Beast reported. “Love you Stephen.(Expletive) you and all your Sheldons CBS,” Kimmel said on Instagram.
With that statement, Kimmel didn’t express any concerns about the future of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC. That’s unlike Stewart who said on “The Weekly Show” podcast that he hoped David Ellison and Skydance would recognize the value that “The Daily Show” brings to the network. But he admitted he wasn’t sure if they cared, the Daily Beast reported.
“They may sell the whole (expletive) place for parts, I just don’t know,” Stewart said. “And we’ll deal with it when we do. But I’m so happy and proud of everybody that works over there. They want to do that? Knock themselves out.”