Stephen Colbert kicked off Thursday’s edition of The Late Show with a jab at the CEO who fired him, declaring “love” for Paramount chief David Ellison on National Boss’ Day.
“I join you tonight in a celebratory mood because, as you know, today is National Boss’ Day,” Colbert said while kicking off his opening monologue.
“I hope you all treated your boss to their favorite gift—two minutes of awkward chitchat until the elevator arrives. Remember to say your kids’ names so they don’t have to.”
The host then turned to look directly into the camera, where his face was framed by a graphic labeled “David Ellison Appreciation Cam,” accompanied by a superimposed graphic of the smiling CEO.
“I want to take a moment to celebrate my new boss, Paramount CEO David Ellison,” Colbert said with a deadpan expression. “Mr. Ellison, I love you.”
After pausing briefly to soak up some laughs, Colbert punctuated the moment with a wink at the audience. “That oughta buy us a couple more months,” he quipped.
Back in July, CBS abruptly announced it was axing The Late Show With Stephen Colbert next May, bringing to a close the long-running late-night show and Colbert’s ten-year tenure as host along with it.
CBS claimed the decision was “purely financial,” citing dwindling ad revenues and a shifting media environment, despite The Late Show consistently ranking as the top-rated late-night show.
Others, however, such as Jimmy Kimmel, questioned CBS’ claims about financial losses, instead suggesting that Colbert—a longtime critic of President Donald Trump—was axed just days before Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Ellison’s Skydance Media was approved by the Trump administration.
Prior to the merger, Colbert had also earned the ire of both Trump and his parent network by criticizing Paramount’s decision to pay the president $16 million to convince him to drop a “frivolous” defamation lawsuit against 60 Minutes, which was widely interpreted as a bribe.
“While I was on vacation, my parent corporation, Paramount, paid Donald Trump a $16 million settlement over his 60 Minutes lawsuit,” Colbert said of the settlement at the time.
“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 quipped, before adding the correct term for the settlement in legal circles was “a big fat bribe.”
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump bragged on Truth Social after news of the cancellation was made public. “His talent was even less than his ratings. 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.”
Back in July, a network insider told The Independent that while The Late Show had been “on the chopping block” for a while due to its high production costs, it was widely accepted amongst staffers that the show was axed for political reasons.
“Many of us think this was part and parcel of the Trump shakedown settlement,” they told the publication, with a second staffer telling Status News, “What better gift could the Ellisons give Trump than to get rid of Colbert and Stewart?”
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