Democratic leader rips CBS for cutting Stephen Colbert's Late Show after he condemned Trump lawsuit

It’s been less than 24 hours since CBS shocked the world with the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and CBS is coming under deserved criticism for its decision to axe late-night’s most-watched program. 

In announcing the show’s cancellation, CBS has tried to save face by blaming the decision on the financial state of television, noting that “this is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount.” However, fans of the late-night series and its host are not buying what CBS is selling. This includes prominent Democratic leader Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has blasted CBS on social media for their decision and questioned the true motive behind the show’s cancellation. 

“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,” Warren wrote on Twitter, calling CBS out for having an ulterior motive in cancelling The Late Show. 

In releasing the above statement, Warren encouraged followers to watch and share Colbert’s message as she shared the monologue he gave on The Late Show on Monday, July 15, in which he laid into Paramount for settling the lawsuit President Donald Trump brought against the network. The lawsuit in question was filed against CBS over a 2024 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President and Trump’s opponent in the election, Kamala Harris, in which Trump claimed CBS tried to “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic party.” While CBS initially claimed the lawsuit had “no merit,” they chose to settle for $16 million, a settlement that Colbert and many late-night hosts called out. 

"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' because it all comes as Paramount's owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance," Colbert stated in calling out CBS's parent company.

Ironically, he then proceeded to address online speculation that the upcoming sale could put pressure on him as host and joked off the idea at the time saying, “Some of the TV typers out there are blogging that once Skydance gets CBS the new owners’ desire to please Trump could ‘put pressure on late-night host and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert.’ Okay, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert if they can’t find him?”

While Colbert joked off the concerns just days ago, many are now pointing to his comments about Paramount's settlement with Trump as the driving force behind his show's sudden cancellation. Warren is one of many politicians who have already come to Colbert's defense and put CBS on blast for their decision, calling out the network for "selling out" and cancelling the show not because of a financial decision but because of Colbert's standing history as a critic of Trump.

Needless to say, the cancellation is not sitting well with many at this moment and many are not sold that the true motives behind the show's cancellation were due to financial reasons as CBS has said.

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