Politics
Democrats Melt Down Over Colbert Show’s Cancellation: ‘Looks Like Bribery’
Democrat lawmakers and other left-leaning figures have been taking the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s late night talk show extremely hard, with many suggesting that he was fired to appease the Trump Administration.
CBS announced Thursday that Colbert’s show would be ending in 2026, nearly a decade after he took over for the retiring David Letterman. Not only will Colbert be out at CBS — just days after he trashed network leadership for settling a lawsuit with Trump over a deceptively edited video — the network will be cancelling its late show entirely after several decades on the air.
The network described the decision as a financial one, as late night network shows have declined dramatically in terms of viewership over the past decade. Despite reaching about 95 percent of U.S. households, Colbert’s show currently draws an average of 2.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.
Despite the decline, liberals have flooded social media to claim that the show’s cancellation is rooted in politics. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA), who had just filmed a segment with Colbert when he got the news, lashed out in a social media post and suggested that he could be calling for a formal investigation.
“If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know,” Schiff posted on X. “And deserve better.”
Schiff’s colleague, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), shared similar thoughts. “CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery,” she said. “America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
The freakout extended beyond Washington D.C., as scores of left-leaning actors and pundits have also weighed in.
“I am so upset about this. I need more information. We love you, @stephenathome,” said longtime journalist Katie Couric. “For @CBS to cancel @colbertlateshow is complete malpractice. The brand is strong, storied and irreplaceable. And no host is funnier and more thoughtful – soulful – than @StephenAtHome. That’s why he is loved by a loyal audience, and they will follow him to whatever he does next,” former CNN anchor John Avlon posted on X.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes went as far as to suggest that Colbert’s axing was a sign of an increasingly authoritarian society. “Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country’s leader on TV without repurcussions,” he said.
The latter post was met with widespread mockery, as X users pointed out that Douglas Mackey received a federal prison sentence for posting a meme about Hilary Clinton. Mackey’s conviction was just overturned by an appellate court last week.
The freakout was not contained to X, as some of the more bizarre takes on the situation came from BlueSky, the fledgling X clone popular with progressives and far-left extremists.
Ex-NBC reporter Ben Collins, who now owns the satirical site The Onion, said Colbert would land on his feet but “they are just torching the Late Show, an institution, solely to appease a dictator. And that f—ing sucks.”
“I’m not crazy for thinking that this was related to Colbert criticizing the network, am I?” said former ESPN anchor Jemele Hill.
Colbert’s show will remain on the air through May, at which point the program will end entirely. “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘THE LATE SHOW’ franchise at that time,” CBS executives said in a joint statement. “We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”