CBS’s late-night host, Stephen Colbert, is downplaying theories floated by Democratic senators that the network canceled his show to appease President Trump.

In July, CBS announced that it would cancel “The Late Show” at the end of its current season in May. The timing of the decision raised eyebrows as it came at a time when CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, was working to win the Trump Administration’s approval of its merger with Skydance. While CBS said the move was “purely a financial decision,” Democratic senators such as Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff asked if the cancellation was driven by politics. 

But during a recent interview with GQ Magazine, Mr. Colbert downplayed those theories, saying, “That’s not my reaction to it. My reaction as a professional in show business is to go: That is the network’s decision.”

He said that he “can understand” why people would think that the decision was driven by politics because Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against CBS, which he said was “clearly” done to “curry favor with a single individual.”

However, he said, “If people have theories that associate me with that, it’s a reasonable thing to think, because CBS or the corporation clearly did it once.”

“People can have their theories. I have my feelings about not doing the show anymore,” he added. “But you’d have to show me why that’s a fruitful relationship for me to have with my network for the next nine months, for me to engage in that speculation.”

Mr. Colbert, who has not been afraid to take jabs at Paramount and Skydance in the past, reiterated his praise for CBS executives, saying he’s had a “great relationship” with the network. 

Shortly after the cancellation of “The Late Show” was announced, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”

Mr. Colbert fired back on his show, “How dare you, sir. Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go f— yourself.”

While Mr. Colbert declined to speculate on the reasons for his firing, Democrats and liberal commentators have suggested it was political. A far-left media reporter, Oliver Darcy, said on his “Power Lines” podcast in August that “about zero” people believe it was “purely” a financial decision. A week after the cancellation announcement, the Federal Communications Commission approved the Skydance deal. 

Mr. Schiff wrote on X in July, “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”

However, a veteran media reporter, Matthew Belloni, reported that “The Late Show” was losing around $40 million a year. ABC’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, told Variety that he does not believe there is a “snowball’s chance in hell that that’s anywhere near accurate.”

But other late-night hosts and comedians have noted that late-night television and linear television are in decline and said that there could have been legitimate business reasons to cancel “The Late Show.”

A far-left comedian, Samantha Bee, who was harshly criticized in 2018 after she called Ivanka Trump a “feckless” c-word, suggested during an appearance on the “Breaking Bread with Tom Papa” podcast that the Skydance merger might have influenced the decision to cancel “The Late Show,” but also said the business model is failing.

“It definitely was hemorrhaging money. These legacy shows are hemorrhaging money with no real end to that … in sight, people are just not tuning in,” Ms. Bee said. “People are literally on their phones all the time for one thing, so they actually don’t necessarily need a recap of the day’s events. They’re very well-versed in what has happened.”

Mr. Trump has also insisted that he did not get Mr. Colbert fired, writing on Truth Social, “Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night. That is not true.”

Meanwhile, Skydance executives told Ms. Warren in a letter that they did not have any say in the decision to cancel Mr. Colbert’s show. Skydance said that it learned about the decision “only after Paramount reached its own independent decision, and shortly before Paramount publicly acknowledged the cancellation.”

While Mr. Colbert downplayed theories suggesting Mr. Trump influenced the decision to cancel his show, Mr. Kimmel has blamed the president for ABC’s decision to temporarily yank “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air. 

In September, Mr. Kimmel was suspended after he said a “MAGA gang was desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” The comment came after the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, said that the suspected gunman had leftist views.

When Mr. Kimmel returned to the airwaves, he told viewers, “You almost have to feel sorry for [Mr. Trump]. He tried his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly. He might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this, now.”

Mr. Trump suggested he might sue ABC for bringing Mr. Kimmel back.