Paramount Global and its broadcast network CBS have decided to end “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in May.
The announcement was made by Colbert during a taping of his show at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, where Late Show has been filmed since it started on the network in the early 1990s.
Paramount later confirmed the decision in a statement released Thursday afternoon, with co-CEO and CBS President George Cheeks saying the decision was made out of consideration for the financial expenses associated with the program.
“It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” Cheeks promised.
The Late Show is the second highest-rated late night talk show program on television, behind only “Gutfeld!” on the Fox News Channel. On network television, it leads the pack, pulling in stronger numbers than “The Tonight Show” on NBC and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC.
Colbert said the last show will air in May 2026, timed to coincide with the expiration of his contract at Paramount. Paramount opted not to find another host for the program.
It remains unclear what Paramount will do with the 11:35 p.m. time slot. Earlier this year, Paramount decided to replace the game show “At Midnight” with Byron Allen’s syndicated program “Comics Unleashed” at 12:35 a.m., rather than turn the time slot over to CBS stations and affiliates for news or other programming.
The decision to cancel The Late Show comes just two days after Colbert criticized the company’s decision to settle a frivilous news distortion lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump last year. The lawsuit centered around a “60 Minutes” interview with his then-political rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump claimed CBS News, which produces 60 Minutes, edited an answer given by Harris about the conflict in Israel to make her look like the better candidate. He pointed to a longer excerpt of her answer that aired earlier in the day on “Face the Nation” as proof of the alleged deception. CBS airs both programs.
Legal experts said CBS and Paramount would have prevailed in the lawsuit had it gone to trial. But Paramount opted to settle the matter instead because the lawsuit was the central reason for the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to delay the transfer of CBS-held broadcast licenses from Paramount to Skydance Media, which was a key element in the company’s merger with the production company.
Despite the settlement, which will see Paramount paying $16 million to Trump’s presidential library, the FCC has still not acted on the transfer of CBS broadcast licenses, and the Skydance deal remains pending.
On Monday, Colbert said the settlement amounted to a “big fat bribe” between Paramount and Trump, one that was meant to grease the wheels of the Skydance merger.
“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 said during his monologue.
“Some of the TV typers out there are blogging that once Skydance gets CBS, the new owners’ desire to please Trump will ‘put pressure on late-night host and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert,'” Colbert quipped. “Okay, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert if they can’t find him?”
After May, it isn’t clear where TV fans will find Colbert.
