“Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will air its final show next May, CBS said Thursday.
The network, which Colbert aired “The Late Show” as a host since 2015, said it had ended the franchise after a “historic run.”
“Stephen Colbert considers irreplaceable and will retire from the then-Late Show franchise,” a CBS executive said in a joint statement. “I’m proud that Stephen invited CBS to the house, and the broadcast is remembered by the great Pantheon who decorated the late-night television.
“This is a purely financial decision against the challenging late-night background,” they added. “It’s never related to the performance of the show, the content, or any other issues happening at Paramount.”
Colbert announced the news at the show Thursday, saying he had just learned the news last night.
“It’s not just the end of our show,” he said. “I’ve not been replaced. All this is gone.”
“The people at CBS were great partners,” he added.
Paramount, the parent company of CBS, is in the midst of a $8 billion merger with Hollywood Studios Skydance. However, the deal was delayed by months as consultations with President Donald Trump’s lawyers were dragged over after filing a lawsuit over an interview that CBS News Magazine’s “60 Minutes” aired alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Paramount agreed to settle the lawsuit in principle on July 2nd by paying $16 million to Trump’s future presidential library. However, Paramount Global said at the time that “the lawsuit is completely separate and unrelated to the SkyDance transaction and the FCC approval process.” Trump’s FCC Commissioner Brendanker is investigating the deal.
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