Jimmy Kimmel gave a salute to “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” — and blasted rival network CBS — on Thursday evening, hours after CBS announced that it would be canceling Colbert’s series in May 2026 and retiring the “Late Show” brand.
“Love you Stephen,” Kimmel wrote on his Instagram story, captioning a clip of Colbert’s on-air announcement that his show would be ending. “Fuck you and all your Sheldons CBS.”
Shortly after Colbert revealed that “The Late Show” would be ending during his taping Thursday, CBS confirmed the plans, justifying the cancelation as a “purely financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and emphasizing that “it is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
The late night format’s decline amid the rise of digital media has become a well-known business trend in recent years. Nonetheless, the timing of Colbert’s cancelation has raised eyebrows among commentators, indicative of a widespread cynicism regarding media companies’ relationship to President Trump.
The decision to end “The Late Show” comes roughly two weeks after Paramount reached an agreement with Trump to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit it had once described as “meritless,” in which Trump accused “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing an interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris and misleading U.S. voters. The settlement signaled a bet that ending the legal dispute with Trump could help speed federal approval on a planned deal for Skydance Media to acquire Paramount.
Colbert has been a longstanding critic of Trump, regularly skewering the President in his late night monologues since his tenure as “Late Show” host began in 2015.
“CBS canceled Colbert’s show just three days after Colbert called out CBS owner Paramount for its $16 settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery,” Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote in a statement on social media. “America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
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“Stephen Colbert is a profoundly good and deeply talented man with a great staff and an excellent show. They all deserve better,” said Andy Richter, Conan O’Brien’s late night righthand man. The Bluesky post came alongside a screenshot of a texting conversation in which Richter’s contact simply wrote “Trump” and “Mother fucker.”
“The financial side of that business has definitely been under pressure, as CBS release asserts, but if CBS believes it can escape without some serious questions about capitulating to Trump, they are seriously deluded,” wrote New York Times media reporter Bill Carter.
See more reactions to the ending of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” below.
From Variety US