Stephen Colbert says CBS made one mistake in its resolution to cancel the Late Present: “they left me alive. And now, for the subsequent ten months, the gloves are off.”
The Late Present host didn’t maintain again throughout Monday’s opening monologue, taking goal at each CBS and Donald Trump. He additionally addressed hypothesis that the present’s cancelation could also be tied to company capitulation, as CBS’s father or mother firm, Paramount, nears the ultimate levels of its merger with Skydance, which nonetheless wants approval from the Trump Administration.
“CBS, our community… put out a press release… they clarified that the cancelation was purely a monetary resolution. However how may or not it’s a purely monetary resolution if the Late Present is No. 1 in scores? Yeah, it’s complicated. A lot of folks are asking that question, primarily my employees’s dad and mom and spouses.”
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“Over the weekend, somebody at CBS adopted up their gracious press launch, adopted up with a gracious nameless leak saying, “They pulled the plug on our present due to losses pegged between $40 million and $50 million a yr.” $40 million is a giant quantity. I may see us shedding $24 million, however the place would Paramount have probably spent the opposite $16 million?” Colbert added, referencing Paramount’s current resolution to settle a seemingly meritless lawsuit with the Trump Administration over the enhancing of a section on 60 Minutes.
Colbert additionally responded to Trump’s Reality Social publish in regards to the present’s cancelation, through which the president wrote, “I completely love that Colbert received fired. His expertise was even lower than his scores.” Colbert replied, “How dare you, sir? Would an untalented man have the ability to compose the next satirical witticism? Go fuck your self.”
As for Trump’s asserting that fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is “subsequent,” to be fired, Colbert responded, “Nope. No, no. Completely not, Kimmel. I’m the martyr. There’s solely room for one on this cross. And I gotta let you know, the view is implausible from up right here.”
Proving that the gloves are certainly off, Colbert proceeded to make use of the remainder of his monologue to debate Trump’s associations with Jeffrey Epstein. The episode additionally featured a section through which Colbert imagined the Washington Commanders renaming themselves the Washington Epsteins in a bid to appease the president — a response to current headlines that Trump has threatened to dam the crew’s new stadium except they revert to their former identify, the Washington Redskins.
A number of of Colbert’s late-night friends, together with on Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Andy Cohen, additionally turned out to point out their help for Colbert by appearing in a Coldplay kiss cam parody mocking CBS’s father or mother firm, Paramount, and Trump.
As of now, CBS says Late Present with Stephen Colbert will stay on the air by way of Could 2026.
