Colbert Melts Down, Rages At CBS After Humiliating Cancelation

A feisty Stephen Colbert lashed out at his corporate overlords on Monday night’s episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” less than a week after CBS announced it would be canceling his program at the end of its current season.

In a biting and at times humorless tone, Colbert lamented the unexpected end of his career while casting doubt on the network’s stated reason for terminating his show after a decade.

“Folks, I’m going to go ahead and say it,” he told the studio audience at the opening of his monologue. “Cancel culture has gone too far.”

The late-night host thanked members of his team and devoted viewers before promising to take off his gloves and share unvarnished hot takes, no matter what consequences might follow.

“The gloves are off! I can finally speak unvarnished truth to power and say what I really think about Donald Trump. Starting now,” he said, staring dead ahead into the camera. “I don’t care for him.”

Pop culture was stunned by the cancellation of Colbert’s program, which had spent nine consecutive seasons at the top of ratings among late-night talk shows. His monologues have frequently gone viral, and mainstream outlets often look to his opinions, as well as those of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and his peers, to gauge how comedians are responding to the latest news from the White House.

Democrats rallied to Colbert’s defense after news of his cancellation surfaced last week. U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested that CBS bent the knee to Trump out of concern that his Federal Communications Commission Chair, Brendan Carr, would deny the company’s merger with Skydance.

Colbert has a habit of calling it like he sees it, as when he recently accused CBS of paying a “big fat bribe” to settle Trump’s allegation that the network defamed him by airing an edited interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris last year. The network’s payment was nearly equal to the amount ABC News paid to settle another defamation suit brought by Trump.

CBS called the cancellation of its late-night programming an “agonizing decision” and said Colbert and his show “will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late-night television,” the Washington Post reported. The network maintained that it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

That explanation didn’t sit well with Colbert, who cited his ratings.

“But how could it purely be a financial decision if ‘The Late Show’ is No. 1 in ratings? It’s confusing,” he said as his audience cheered in agreement. “A lot of folks are asking that question, mainly my staff’s parents and spouses.”

He flatly noted that CBS “followed up their gracious press release with a gracious anonymous leak” from “sources” who shared screenshots with the New York Post showing that the show was losing between $40 and $50 million annually.

“$40 million’s a big number,” Colbert said. “I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million?” he added before adding “Oh…”