The cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is not, as CBS executives would desperately like us to believe, a “purely financial decision.” It is, quite transparently, the ceremonial sacrifice of satire on the altar of political appeasement and corporate consolidation.
Yes, late-night ratings have slipped. Yes, ad revenue is tighter than an intern’s skinny jeans at a Soho house party. But let’s not pretend Colbert was dead wood. His was the highest-rated late-night show in its slot. Emmy-winning. Critically lauded. Socially vital. And very much still watched — I know, because I watch it religiously, whether in the UK or the US. Not sure I’ve missed an episode in over a year. Hell, I even went to a taping the last time I was in New York.
- I even went to a taping the last time I was in New York
In a year when American networks have spent billions on bloated reboots no one asked for and IP cash-ins so lazy they make Love Island look like Shakespeare, we’re supposed to believe that the network couldn’t find the budget for one of the most popular talk shows on American television?
No. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.
What happened?
Paramount, CBS’s parent company, was trying to finalise a merger with Skydance Media. But the Federal Communications Commission, chaired by a Trump appointee, had the deal under review. A spurious Trump lawsuit against CBS was hanging over everything like a fart in a lift. So they paid up. $16 million to the president and, coincidentally, soon-to-be-founder of the Trump Presidential Library & Golf Superstore. The lawsuit was laughable — claiming a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris had been maliciously edited. Spoiler: it hadn’t. But CBS paid anyway.
That’s not metaphor. That’s the scent of compromise disguised as corporate prudence. Trump wanted money. The FCC, chaired by Trump’s man Brendan Carr, was delaying Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media. And then, as if by magic, a deal was struck, the FCC smiled, and Colbert — that cheeky, persistent thorn in the Trumpian posterior — was told he’d be off the air come May.
How wonderfully coincidental.
And Donald, never one to let subtlety get in the way of smugness, took to his rickety digital pulpit on Truth Social:
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
“I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”
He wasn’t done.
“Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show,” referring to Jimmy Fallon, who must be nervously counting down his own commercial breaks now.
The president of the United States is openly celebrating the removal of his political critics from network television. No nuance, no shame. Just straight-up banana republic behaviour. And CBS is letting it happen.
Colbert himself saw it coming. Three days before CBS dropped the axe, he went after the $16 million settlement live on air. “As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended,” he said. “I don’t know if anything – anything – will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16m would help.”
The crowd laughed. CBS board members did not.
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders weren’t laughing either. Warren posted, “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.” Sanders was blunter: “Do I think this is a coincidence? NO.”
Let’s not forget, satire has always been uncomfortable — it’s meant to be. But in Britain, we understand that discomfort was part of a healthy democracy.
Did Margaret Thatcher, no fan of dissent, ever phone the BBC and demand that Ben Elton be pulled off the air for his relentless “Mrs Thatch” tirades on Friday Night Live? No. She rolled her eyes and got on with it.
Did John Major ask for Spitting Image to melt down his dead-eyed puppet with the greying underpants? No. He probably winced, but understood that being lampooned is part of the job. If you can’t take a latex satire to the chin, you’re in the wrong line of work.
But Trump? Trump doesn’t do satire. He doesn’t even do irony. His skin is thinner than a Ryanair seat cushion and twice as easy to tear. And so, rather than rolling with the punches, he’s throwing elbows — at networks, at comedians, at newspapers, at anyone who doesn’t flatter his ego.
And with Colbert off-air, who’s next?
This isn’t just the end of a show. This is the end of an era. Colbert didn’t just fill a chair behind a desk — he held a mirror to power, to hypocrisy, to puffed-up politics and the empty suits who manipulate them. He took the absurd and made it art. He made you laugh while making you think, which is increasingly dangerous currency in a world dominated by clickbait, culture wars, and billionaires with fragile egos.
Colbert began in satire — not the fluffy late-night banter of falling asleep with Fallon but the hard stuff: The Colbert Report, his creation of a right-wing pundit who was somehow more believable than the real ones. He gave us “truthiness” before we knew how badly we’d need it. And when he moved to The Late Show, he didn’t neuter himself — he sharpened the blade.
So yes, this is personal. Not just for the 200 staffers soon out of a job. Not just for viewers like me, who tuned in for comfort and clarity and cleverness. But for anyone who still believes journalism — in whatever format — should punch up, not shut up.
What’s next? More of Trump’s wish list being fulfilled under the guise of economic restructuring? Will Jon Stewart be next for the guillotine? (“Shameful,” he said of the settlement.) Will NPR be shuttered because Trump doesn’t like vowels?
And now, as the stage lights dim and the applause fades, the future of satire feels uncertain.
Or does it?
Because while the suits in broadcast boardrooms pretend this is about balance sheets, over on YouTube — where the only approval required is a “Like” button — audiences are flocking. In fact, someone else has already made the leap: Piers Morgan, that perennial marmite of British broadcasting, has quietly – well it was a quiet as Morgan gets – shifted his Uncensored show from linear TV to YouTube, where it reaches more people, with less interference, and no need to pander to a regulator or advertiser with cold feet.
It’s ironic, isn’t it? Trump — the man who cut his teeth on reality TV, who turned CNN into a hate-watch for the MAGA faithful — may have just accelerated the future of television. By bullying broadcasters into silence, he’s made online freedom more attractive, more necessary.
Late-night satire might be dying on CBS, but it’s thriving elsewhere. Jon Stewart. Hasan Minhaj. Sarah Cooper. Even amateur YouTubers with a microphone and a sense of decency are picking up the mantle. The audience hasn’t disappeared — it’s migrated.
So maybe The Late Show is ending. But the idea of the late show — the honest, punch-up political comedy show — might just be evolving.
And as for Colbert? Don’t bet against him. The man once played a right-wing pundit in character for nine years without breaking once. He’s not afraid of a fight. He’s just lost his stage. For now.
So here’s my suggestion, Mr Colbert: light up a YouTube channel, Dust off all the covid-era tech. Call it The Even Later Show. Stream it straight from your living room. No censors. No FCC. No overlords with shareholder nerves. Just you, your writers, your desk — and your audience, who are very much still here, very much still watching. Plus if Morgan is believed you might even earn more!
And this time, the only cancellation that matters is the one your subscribers can control.
Read more:
Colbert gets cancelled – and with him, satire itself