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The cancelation of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ should scare you

Image of Stephen Colbert on the set of CBSs 'The late show.' He is a white man with short, dark hair wearing a black suit with a white buttondown shirt and a black tie. He's seated at a wooden desk with a background depicting the New York City at night.

It was announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a show that has been running since 1993, was coming to an end. CBS sited financial reasons for the show’s end but this isn’t a cut and dry cancelation. And you should be afraid of it.

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The show, which was originally hosted by David Letterman, is a staple of late night television. Stephen Colbert also happens to be one of the late night hosts that are critical of President Donald Trump. And this happened days after CBS paid President Trump a pay out of $16 million. The entire settlement issue has not gone over well with journalists across the board, including Colbert.

In Colbert’s monologue recently, he pushed back at his parent company by tearing into their “big fat bribe” that they were working on with the Trump administration. “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,’” he said on July 14. It was announced on July 17 that the show would not be getting another season.

To paint a picture, Trump took to social media to praise the decision. “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired,” he wrote on Truth Social. “His talent was even less than his ratings.” He went on to come for another anti-Trump talk show host: Jimmy Kimmel. “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!” Trump wrote. “Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”

Greg Gutfeld is very vocally pro-Trump and has often taken criticism against the President and mocked those who do not agree with his policies on his show.

This shouldn’t be happening!

Trump making that comment is taking on every late night show host who does not side with the president. He wants them gone. Why? Because they’re not afraid to call him out. CBS, in this instance, caving to Trump (whether they meant to or not) sets a terrifying precedence.

“It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” the network said in a statement. “Our admiration, affection and respect for the talents of Stephen Colbert and his incredible team made this agonizing decision even more difficult.” So they are, in this statement, admitting to the fact that the show’s performance was fine…

Kimmel didn’t have kind words for the network in his story, stars like Adam Scott also responded to the news, writing on Colbert’s post “Love you Stephen. This is absolute bulls—. And I for one am looking forward to the next 10 months of shows. ✊??.”

The show itself has until May of 2026 so there will still be more of Stephen Colbert and The Late Show. But it is important to remember that CBS canceled the show that had good ratings, had content that didn’t disagree with, and was vocal about their thoughts on the president….

(featured image: CBS)

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Rachel Leishman
Editor in Chief
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is the Editor in Chief of the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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