Kate Laurensen is a veteran reporter. She started out covering entertainment news for the local city paper before moving up to the City desk. She studied journalism at San Francisco City College for the Arts.
July 18 , 2025
New York, NY — CBS revealed it will end “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in May 2026, bringing to a close one of America’s most watched late-night programs and intensifying speculation over the influence of politics and big business in mainstream media. The move follows weeks of mounting pressure tied to the Trump administration and CBS’s parent company Paramount’s efforts to secure regulatory approval for its contested merger with Skydance Media.
The timing of the cancellation has led many industry watchers and lawmakers to suspect that more than just ratings or finances were at play. Earlier this month, Paramount settled a headline-grabbing lawsuit with President Donald Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview, agreeing to a $16 million payout. The agreement is widely seen as an attempt to ease Trump administration scrutiny of Paramount’s planned $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, which cannot proceed without federal approval.
Colbert, who returned from vacation days after the settlement, did not mince words. In a pointed monologue, the comedian mocked Paramount’s actions, suggesting on air, “I don’t know if anything — anything — will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.” He described the deal as a “big fat bribe” designed to curry favor with the administration.
Since taking over “The Late Show” in 2015, Stephen Colbert has positioned himself as one of television’s sharpest critics of Donald Trump, making him a frequent target of the former president and his supporters. Colbert’s unyielding tone only intensified this month, with his show becoming a flashpoint for debates over freedom of the press and the fate of political satire on network TV.
His standing did little to protect his program. CBS maintains that the decision to cancel the show is “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and not connected to performance or any issues surrounding Paramount. However, “The Late Show” was still leading the ratings in its timeslot and was recently nominated for an Emmy Award. Lawmakers including Senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren have demanded an explanation, openly questioning whether Colbert’s ouster was politically motivated.
Approval for the Paramount-Skydance merger is contingent on several factors overseen by the Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Some insiders believe that eliminating outspoken Trump critics from CBS’s lineup may have been seen as a necessary gesture to win administration support, especially after the president’s lawsuit, which cited CBS for alleged bias in its news coverage.
Industry observers warn that the precedent could embolden political leaders to exert even more control over who gets a platform on major networks in the future. Meanwhile, viewers and media watchdogs are left questioning whether this marks the end of an era for outspoken late-night political satire — or merely the beginning of new corporate and governmental entanglements in the public sphere.
Stephen Colbert told his studio audience, “Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending the Late Show in May . . . it’s the end of the Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away." For millions of viewers, the show's end is about more than television—it's about the state of comedy, free speech, and the future of American late-night TV.
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