Stephen Colbert has spoken on theories claiming “The Late Show’s” cancellation may have been politically motivated, saying that it’s “a reasonable thing to think” but ultimately refusing to “engage in that speculation”.
In a new cover story with GQ, Colbert was asked about his CBS show’s sudden axing in July, shortly after he criticized parent company Paramount‘s $16 million “60 Minutes” settlement with President Donald Trump on air. Besides the “60 Minutes” lawsuit, Paramount was also waiting on FCC approval at the time for its merger with Skydance. In a statement at the time, the company said it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
But others have begged to differ, with GQ writer Zach Baron mentioning to Colbert that Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff both suggested that the decision could have been politically motivated. Warren even wrote in a column for Variety: “Was it a coincidence that CBS canceled Colbert just three days after he spoke out? Are we sure that this wasn’t part of a wink-wink deal between the president and a giant corporation that needed something from his administration?” Trump celebrated the news on Truth Social, writing: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
In response, Colbert told GQ that that was not his read of the situation, though he gets how others might reach that conclusion.
“That’s not my reaction to it. My reaction as a professional in show business is to go: That is the network’s decision,” Colbert told GQ. “I can understand why people would have that reaction because CBS or the parent corporation — I’m not going to say who made that decision, because I don’t know; no one’s ever going to tell us — decided to cut a check for $16 million to the president of the United States over a lawsuit that their own lawyers, Paramount’s own lawyers, said is completely without merit. And it is self-evident that that is damaging to the reputation of the network, the corporation, and the news division. So it is unclear to me why anyone would do that other than to curry favor with a single individual.”
Colbert added: “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. But my side of the street is clean and I have no interest in picking up a broom or adding to refuse on the other side of the street. Not my problem. So people can have their theories. I have my feelings about not doing the show anymore, 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.”
The late-night host, whose show is now ending in May 2026, went on to say that he’s had a “great relationship with CBS”.
“It’s one of the reasons why this was so surprising and so shocking that there was no preamble to this,” Colbert said. “We do budgets and everything like that. We’ve done cuts and stuff like that. So that’s why it was surprising to me, as I said, but I meant what I said [on air] the next night after I found out, because I couldn’t sit on it. They’ve been great partners. They really have. They’ve been very supportive.”
Representatives for CBS and the White House did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
Read Colbert’s full profile in GQ here.
