CBS announced Tuesday they are ending The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and are retiring The Late Show franchise in May 2026 due to “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”
Dubbing the host of the show program “irreplaceable,” CBS added the decision was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” CBS’ parent company.
“We are proud that Stephen called CBS home,” the network said in a statement. “He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”
The news of the show’s fate was shared by Colbert himself who told the audience during Thursday’s taping that he had found out the previous night that next year will be the show’s final season.
“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS,” he said. “I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away. And I do want to say … that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany Network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. And of course I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night.”
He went on thanking the show’s band and added he’s “extraordinarily, deeply grateful to the 200 people who work here.”
“I’ve had the pleasure and the responsibility of sharing what we do every day with you in front of this camera for the last 10 years,” he said. “It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it. It’s a job that I’m looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another 10 months.”
Colbert took over the programme from David Letterman ten years ago, becoming one of most vocal Trump’s critics on late night TV. Previously, he hosted The Colbert Report on Comedy Central from 2005 until 2014.
The moment the audience learned the show is ending after a decade of Colbert hosting it, they booed.
Fans took to the social media to share their disappointment. “Stephen Colbert deserves better!” one person wrote on X. “I’m absolutely not ready to NOT have Stephen Colbert on my TV at night,” another fan added, while third wrote, “CBS letting Stephen Colbert go is BS! Boycott CBS.”
Some believe that the real reason behind the abrupt decision to cancel the show has to do with Colbert’s criticism of President Donald Trump during a time when Paramount Global is merging with Skydance Media, a move that needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission, reports The Mirror.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote, “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. America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff shared similar thoughts on X, writing, “Just finished taping with Stephen Colbert who announced his show was cancelled. If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”
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