CBS Mornings snubbed Stephen Colberts Late Show | TV Shows

CBS reportedly wasted no time in ushering Stephen Colbert out following The Late Show’s finale.

On Thursday, May 21, the 62-year-old comic delivered his last “Goodnight, everybody” from the Ed Sullivan Theater stage in New York City. The closing phase was packed with movie star appearances and performances from the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Ryan Reynolds, Paul Rudd, and others.

Despite the finale breaking information with huge viewership, CBS uncared for to point out their departing star’s exit the next day on its morning program, CBS Mornings. According to a source, the omission was deliberate and stemmed from one of the host’s earlier jokes about fellow colleague Tony Dokoupil.

During the May 14 episode of The Late Show, Colbert devoted half of his monologue to ribbing the community and the CBS Evening News anchor over a reporting mishap.

While President Trump was in China for a state go to, most major news shops had correspondents on location protecting his assembly with Xi Jinping. However, Dokoupil wasn’t among them. He had failed to receive a visa in time to enter the nation. Instead, he reported on the summit remotely from Taipei, Taiwan, over 1,000 miles away.

When Colbert broke the story on his show, he quipped, “All the news teams are on the ground in China to cover this epic and historic summit. All except one…

“Well, that is disappointing, but it does match in with their slogan. ‘CBS News: when occasions occur, we’re at most one nation away,'” he added.

Afterward, CBS remained silent and opted for no response as its strategy, which explains why Colbert’s finale went unmentioned.

A source revealed to Puck‘s Matthew Belloni that it “wasn’t an oversight.”

“I’m told the ghosting was a particular directive from CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, who hated Colbert’s latest bit mocking their failure to secure a China visa for anchor Tony Dokoupil,” the founder wrote. “Colbert ‘kicked colleagues when they have been down,’ one source at CBS News told me today. ‘It was unprofessional and unprovoked.'”

DON’T MISS…

Fox News viewers flip on Trump after he slams ‘useless particular person’ Colbert

Expert shares why Colbert made no point out of Donald Trump in his last show

Fox and Friends hosts torched as they mock Stephen Colbert with Trump clips

This isn’t the first time Colbert has wreaked consequences for his digs towards the network. It was one of the reasons for his cancellation.

In July 2025, he criticized President Trump and Paramount over their $16 million settlement in a lawsuit the president brought over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris before the 2024 election.

Addressing the matter, the host stated, “I imagine this variety of difficult financial settlement with a sitting authorities official has a technical title in legal circles: it is ‘big, fats bribe.'”

Within three days, the network revealed it would be axing the popular late-night talk show, with the final episode scheduled for May 2026. CBS did indicate that the franchise will end with the “irreplaceable” host and that the choice stemmed solely from financial issues.

The Express has reached out to CBS for remark.