Former late night host defends Stephen Colbert | TV Shows

The cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show has stunned and upset many around the United States.

Once the decision was made, people immediately blamed CBS‘ parent company, Paramount, which just recently got the FCC approval to merge with Skydance. Paramount was embroiled in a lawsuit with Donald Trump, who claimed that their show 60 Minutes interfered in the 2024 presidential election.

The lawsuit was settled, and many thought Paramount did so to gain favor with Trump. And since Colbert was critical of both the settlement and Trump, some think that’s the reason for the cancellation.

However, former late night show host Samantha Bee thinks there might be another reason. Though she called the decision “awful,” Bee justified the decision while appearing on the Breaking Bread with Tom Papa podcast.

During the show, comedian Papa claimed that The Late Show was losing $40 million a year. Samantha agreed, saying, “These legacy shows are hemorrhaging money with no real end to that in sight, people are just not tuning in.”

The former host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee explained her theory for the cancellation, saying, “It’s so much easier for them to cut it loose with this merger coming down the pike.”

“It makes the decision such a no-brainer, and probably the most agonising decisions they were having were about how do we float this? How do we not get a lot of blowback? I’m sure they knew it was happening a long time ago,” she continued.

Colbert was very outspoken against Trump, calling the settlement a “big fat bribe.” Shortly after this comment, Paramount announced the show would end in May 2026.