why was colbert cancelled

Stephen Colbert's late-night show, "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," was officially canceled by CBS and Paramount Global, with the show ending in May 2026 when Colbert's contract expires. The companies stated the cancellation was purely a financial decision due to a challenging environment for late- night programming, and not related to the show's performance or content. The show reportedly was losing money, with some reports citing losses around $40 million per year, though this figure has been contested and may have been inflated. However, the cancellation happened days after Colbert publicly criticized CBS's parent company Paramount Global for a $16 million settlement with the Trump administration related to a lawsuit. This timing led to suspicions and political controversy, as Colbert has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump. Politicians, entertainers, and the Writers Guild of America called for investigations into whether the cancellation was influenced by political reasons tied to the merger between Paramount and Skydance, which was under review by the FCC, and the recent settlement with Trump. Despite the controversy, CBS executives maintained that the decision was a difficult but necessary financial choice in the context of broader corporate changes and challenges in the late-night TV market. The merger with Skydance and the shifting viewership toward platforms with lower ad revenue reportedly added to the financial pressures behind the cancellation.