US television host Stephen Colbert has announced that The Late Show, a fixture of late-night stateside broadcasting, will conclude in 2026.
The timing has raised questions, coming just days after Colbert criticized his broadcaster CBS’s parent company Paramount over its recent $16 million (€13.8 million) legal settlement with .
How the news was delivered
“Next year will be our last season,” Colbert said. “The network will be ending the show in May [2026].”
The news, delivered during his live taping, was met with audible boos from the studio audience.
CBS described the decision as “purely a financial one against a challenging backdrop in late night,” and insisted it had “nothing to do with the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at [parent company] Paramount.”
The decision was reached after CBS agreed to pay President Trump a settlement of $16 million. He alleged that CBS News’ 60 Minutes program had deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, . Paramount called the lawsuit “meritless.”
Colbert had referred to the settlement as “a big fat bribe,” with Paramount currently seeking government approval for an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.
“As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended. And I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company, but just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”
He also confirmed Thursday that the cancellation marks the end of The Late Show franchise altogether. “I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” he said.
CBS responded with praise, saying it was “proud that Stephen called CBS home.”
“He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late-night television,” it added.
What has been the reaction?
Critics and political figures expressed concern over the potential motive. “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,” Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote on the platform X. “America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who was a guest on The Late Show the night Colbert announced the end, shared those concerns: “If Paramount and CBS ended the ‘Late Show’ for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”
Colbert has hosted The Late Show since 2015, after becoming a big name in comedy and news satire working with Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show.” He has since become one of the most outspoken critics of Donald Trump in US media.
Colbert has been gaining ground in the 2025 late-night TV ratings battle, according to the latest Nielsen figures. The show, officially titled “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” has averaged 2.417 million viewers across 41 new episodes — putting Colbert in the top spot among the major broadcast networks in his timeslot.
On Tuesday, “The Late Show” won its sixth nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award as an outstanding talk show.
As CBS’s parent company, Paramount ultimately owns the rights to its shows, oversees production, and makes key financial and strategic decisions — including over cancellations.
Edited by: Alex Berry
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