CBS will cancel ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ after the upcoming season, citing a “financial decision.” Full story here

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” next year, potentially exiting the late-night television business altogether.

The cancellation will take effect in May 2026, the normal end of the broadcast TV season, the network said Thursday evening.

The move is particularly surprising because “The Late Show” is typically the highest-rated show in late-night. And the timing is bound to raise questions because it comes just two weeks after the parent company of CBS, Paramount, settled a lawsuit lodged by President Trump against CBS News.

The settlement – and Paramount’s pending merger with Skydance Media – spurred speculation about Colbert’s future at CBS. Colbert, after all, is one of the staunchest critics of Trump on television.

Colbert alluded to the online worrying about his fate when he returned from vacation on Monday night. He condemned the Paramount settlement on air, likening it to a “big fat bribe,” and he joked that his new mustache would protect him from the corporation: “Okay, okay, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert… if they can’t find him?”

CBS, however, said in a statement that “this is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

The corporate financial pressures are real; Paramount laid off another 3.5 percent of its workforce just last month.

Still, the Colbert news was head-spinning in the TV world, as evidenced by the heartbroken reactions from fans on the show’s Instagram page. One of the most-favorited comments said “this is crazy.”

Paramount, which is the parent company of CBS, just settled a bogus lawsuit Trump brought against 60 Minutes for airing an interview with former VP Kamala Harris that Trump claimed caused him severe emotional distress.

CBS settled for $16 million.

Paramount has been trying to complete an $8 billion merger with a company called Skydance, which requires the approval of Trump’s FCC. Trump has been shaking down media companies like Paramount, telling them they would only get government approvals if they settled with him personally or enriched him personally.

We have written extensively about how Paramount and CBS are now compromised. Whether getting rid of Colbert was part of the settlement, a new demand by Trump in order to approve the merger after being emboldened by the settlement, or just part of CBS becoming more MAGA—it is not yet clear. Regardless, this is yet another shameful day for corporate media.

So, Mr. Colbert, I want you to know the following:

I am a longtime admirer of yours. I respect how you have never compromised your values, and always speak the truth—and do so with humor and a smile.

As the founder of the MeidasTouch Network, it would be an honor for you to become a regular host.

We now average 1 billion views every 2–3 months. We get more daily views than Fox News. CBS isn’t even close to us in terms of performance. You will have a bigger audience than CBS here at Meidas, and you will be 100 percent independent.

The downside, I must admit: I doubt we can pay you what CBS paid you. However, we are growing fast, and something special is brewing here at the MeidasTouch Network as we lead all cable news and independent news in audience share. It will be fun. You can be fearless. We can make history together. Let’s do it!

Think about it.

Our network grows from our subscribers here on Substack. We have zero investors. We are powered by the Meidas Mighty—our incredible community. Our podcast beats Joe Rogan by three times the monthly views, in addition to our YouTube outperforming Fox. Our podcast and show rank number one in multiple countries.

To those reading this, thank you for subscribing to this Substack and making it possible for us to provide a platform for people like Colbert to join after the betrayal by corporate media networks