CBS Ignores Pressure From Rachel Maddow To ‘Un-Cancel’ Stephen Colbert, Announces Date for Last Episode of ‘The Late Show’

Despite pressure from powerful, far-left figures on CBS to keep “The Late Show,” hosted by anti-Trump comedian Stephen Colbert, on the air, the network has announced the date of his last show – May 21 – which will end the 32 year-old franchise. Last summer, CBS announced that it would cancel “The Late Show” in May 2026, which it said was “purely” a financial decision. Left-wing commentators and Democrats have argued that the show was canceled to appease the Trump Administration, as CBS’s corporate parent, Paramount Global, was waiting for the government’s approval of its merger with Skydance Media. But as Skydance launched its hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery, MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow told her colleague Nicolle Wallace that the decision to fire Mr. Colbert has been a “huge embarrassment to everybody involved in it.” She added, “They should reverse the decision about Colbert.”However, in a likely disappointing development for Ms. Maddow, Mr. Colbert announced on Tuesday that CBS has set May 21 as the date of the last episode of the show. During an appearance on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Mr. Colbert said, “It feels real now … I knew it was real. But, now there’s four months left.”Mr. Colbert said that he will miss working with the staff of “The Late Show,” but noted that he can perform comedy at other venues. Last year, he joked that CBS should keep his show running. Addressing the news of Skydance’s hostile takeover bid, he said, “Wow. I got to say, if my company’s got that kind of green, I’m sure they can afford to uncancel one of their best shows.”After pausing for applause, Mr. Colbert joked, “CBS, you heard the people, bring back The Equalizer. We need our Queen to return. Why do you think America has become so unequalized?”Although Skydance executives are hoping to pull off a major merger with WBD, media insiders say that linear television is in an irreversible decline amid the increasing trend of cord-cutting and the surge in streaming content, which has led to a decline in advertising revenues. Puck reported that “The Late Show” was losing around $40 million a year. ABC’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, has raised doubts about that figure, and the reasoning behind the show’s cancellation. “What I do know for sure, is that some of the information that has been released by the people who let him go can’t possibly be true,” Mr. Kimmel said. “There’s no way he’s losing $40 million a year.”Mr. Kimmel insisted that he knows how the “finances of late-night television shows work, and it’s just ridiculous.” He also said, “If they lost $40 million last year, they would have sent everyone home already.”For his part, Mr. Colbert has downplayed theories about why his show was canceled. He said it is not “fruitful” to speculate about whether politics played a role in the end of his show, and added that he had a “great relationship” with CBS.And while he is losing his show, he was awarded an Emmy last year. That came after Mr. Kimmel launched a campaign for Mr. Colbert to win the Emmy for best talk series.Mr. Colbert took the opportunity to rub his award in President Trump’s face, noting that the 47th president has never won an Emmy. Mr. Trump was nominated for an Emmy for his hit show “The Apprentice” in 2004 and 2005, but did not get the award.

CBS Ignores Pressure From Rachel Maddow To ‘Un-Cancel’ Stephen Colbert, Announces Date for Last Episode of ‘The Late Show’

CBS Ignores Pressure From Rachel Maddow To ‘Un-Cancel’ Stephen Colbert, Announces Date for Last Episode of ‘The Late Show’

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