For the presenter, a decision would be a favor of the president for Paramount, who is involved in a multimillioning merger process that needs to be authorized by the FCC, subordinate to the Republican President
The humorist declared war on the first broadcast of his “Late Show” after the announcement of the end of the program that marked an era of American television: “Diplomacy is over. Go fuck!” CBS announced last week that, in May 2026, it will end this historic franchise started in 1993 with the presenter. For Colbert, this decision seeks Trump’s favor for Paramount, who controls the broadcaster and is involved in a multimillioning merger process that needs to be authorized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), subordinate to the Republican President.
Stephen Colbert responds to Donald Trump saying he’s happy ‘The Late Show’ will be canceled:
“Go f*** yourself”
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave)
The announcement of the end of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” came three days after Colbert classified as “a great bribe” the payment of $ 16 million (89.1 million reais) by CBS to Trump to end its lawsuit against the station. He accused her of “misleading” an interview with the vice president, then his opponent in the 2024 elections. Trump celebrated the resignation of one of his most acidic critics on his social truth platform: “I love them that they fired Colbert,” he wrote.
Colbert joked that, since he started in the Improvisation Comedy in Chicago in the 1980s, he has always dreamed that an acting president celebrated the end of his career. He also questioned CBS’s logic, which claimed that the program’s cancellation is due to “a purely financial decision” and cited anonymous weekend information indicating that the attraction had lost $ 40 million (222.8 million) last year.
The presenter jokes the agreement of CBS News with Trump: he said he could understand the loss of $ 24 million, but was not responsible for the other 16 million. In his monologue where he talks about mood and ingenuity currents, Colbert criticized the president for demanding that the football team Washington Commanders recover their previous name, Washington Redskins, considered an insult to the US originating peoples.
And he suggested calling the team “Washington Epsteins”, referring to the late sexual criminal Jeffrey Epstein, a financier near Trump in the 1990s, whose legacy has bothered the Republican in recent days after he retreated in the publication of potentially compromising documents.
Colbert recalled that the station had ended his program, but not with him, before deepening about the friendship between Trump and Epstein. The humorist became a fierce critic of Trump, mentioning from his policies to his admiration for the villain of literature and cinema Hannibal Lecter.
“Obey in advance”
Outside the Ed Sullivan Theater in downtown Manhattan, where the program is recorded, a group of protesters met with posters saying “Colbert Stay! Trump must leave!”. Elizabeth Kott, a 48 -year -old high school teacher who watched the Late Show, said Colbert’s resignation is “terrible.” “It’s really horrible that it has come to it in this country, where companies feel the need to obey in advance,” he told AFP. Monday’s main guest, acclaimed actress Sandra Oh, did not contain herself and asked for a “Prague about CBS and Paramount” after praising Colbert’s work for facing the powerful while being fun.
His other guest, actor Dave Franco, also spared no praise for the humorist’s career in both “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” and now on “The Late Show.” After recording the second program, he jumped his promised question and answers session, but told the studio audience that he was “nervous when he arrived.” “I will miss you,” he said goodbye.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Fernando Dias
