Fox News host Howard Kurtz isn’t buying that CBS axed Stephen Colbert solely for financial reasons.
Kurtz called out CBS’ parent company Paramount on Media Buzz Sunday, accusing it of cancelling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in order to gain President Donald Trump’s approval.
“This is about Shari Redstone, who needs Trump administration approval to have this sale to Skydance go through and make a lot of money, in my view, really tarnishing the network of Murrow and Cronkite,” Kurtz told guest Brian Steinberg, who is a senior TV editor at Variety.
While Steinberg stated that late night slot is simply “not what it once was,” as fewer and fewer young people choose to tune in to these shows at night, Kurtz insisted that there is more than what meets the eye.
“I’m not buying that blowing up the CBS Late Show had nothing to do with content,” Kurtz said. “I mean, Stephen Colbert is the biggest name at CBS. He’s been number one for nine straight years in the late night ratings, and I don’t think Skydance really cares.”
“Does Skydance think we’re dumb enough to believe there’s nothing to see here?” he asked.
Colbert’s Late Show cancellation comes days after he criticized Paramount for bending the knee to the Trump administration in order to help them get acquired by Skydance, which requires the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
“This all comes as Paramount’s owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance,” Colbert said on his show last week.
He called out Paramount for settling its $16 million lawsuit with Trump over a 60 minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris after the MAGA leader accused the network of editing the interview to make her look better.
“I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: it’s Big Fat Bribe,” Colbert said.
Yet, CBS executives have insisted that cancelling The Late Show was a “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” and that it was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Steinberg told Kurtz Sunday that, in the end, this was all about “an owner, a controlling shareholder, who has to have a deal go through.”
“She is on the verge of financial ruin I believe if it doesn’t happen, she’s in a really hot spot,” he said, adding that Redstone is looking for a “transformative deal.”
As the news of Colbert’s show getting cancelled sparked outrage from fellow late night hosts, Kurtz noted that there was one person who was excited about this news.
“There’s one person who’s happy about this, and that’s Donald Trump, who writes ‘I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was less than his ratings,’ but he had a loyal audience,” he said.
Kurtz was referring to a post Trump shared on Truth Social Friday, in which he celebrated Colbert’s axing.
“I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show,” the president wrote.
The post Fox News Host Says CBS’ Trump Suck-Up Tarnished Network appeared first on The Daily Beast.
