American broadcasting channel CBS has announced that ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ is to end next year. The sudden announcement said that the show is exiting the late-night television business altogether, effective May 2026.
After nearly 30 years on air, the show cited financial pressure as the reason behind its closure.
Stephen Colbert, the host of the show, in the recent episode said, “ Before we start the show, I want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending The Late Show in May.”
He clarified that the show is being completely taken off CBS, and not that he was just being replaced.
Given that Colbert himself was not involved in the decision to end the show, speculation has begun to surface, especially since “The Late Show” was the highest-rated late-night show series according to CNN.
Despite CBS stating 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", the timing of the announcement has raised eyebrows on social media.
The announcement comes two weeks after the parent company of CBS, Paramount, settled a lawsuit lodged by President Trump against CBS News and amid talks between Paramount and Skydance Media to merge the two companies, a move that would require approval from the US federal government.
BBC reports that Colbert has been a major critic of Trump and has hosted many Democratic politicians during his tenure as host. Last month, he held a discussion with Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist leading the race to be New York City's next mayor.
In response, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff posted on X on questioning whether the announcement was tied to the $16m (£12m) settlement the network agreed to pay to Trump, writing: "If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserved to know".
The settlement came after Trump sued CBS last October, alleging the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to "tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party", reported the BBC.
