The Untold Story: Colbert Just Exposed the Real Reason Trump Allegedly Tried to Axe The Late Show—And It’s Not What You Think.NH

Stephen Colbert Responds To Theories President Trump Got The Late Show Canceled

Nick Bythrow is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant. He has been writing for the site since September 2022. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2022, where he triple majored in Journalism, Communications, and Media Studies. When he’s not writing about TV and movies for ScreenRant and his blog, Frayed Branches, Nick is penning speculative fiction and poetry on Amazon. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.

Sign in to your ScreenRant account

However, rumors began swirling not long after that President Trump was involved in axing the show. The ending was announced not long after Colbert spoke out against CBS’ parent company, Paramount, for a $16 million settlement with Trump over a lawsuit against 60 Minutes. US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff also pushed the narrative that political factors were involved.

Speaking with GQ, Colbert explained that he understands why some would consider The Late Show‘s cancellation to be politically motivated. He cites Paramount’s lawsuit settlement as a potential attempt to “curry favor” with Trump. However, he also said he doesn’t want to speculate, wanting to keep an amicable relationship with CBS and Paramount while his show finishes up:

In addition, Colbert said he has a “great relationship with CBS,” explaining how it made their decision to cancel the show feel so sudden. He praised them for the work he’s been able to do with them, stating that he still has a strong relationship with them despite the approaching end of his show:

It’s one of the reasons why this was so surprising and so shocking that there was no preamble to this. 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.

Colbert’s show isn’t the only late-night talk show to be mixed up in the current political administration. Jimmy Kimmel Live! was briefly taken off the air after the host’s controversial comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk and made erroneous claims about shooter Tyler James Robinson. His show remains on-air at ABC after having been pulled for a week.

Since CBS’ official reasoning is financial, The Late Show‘s ending probably won’t get any other concrete response. There’s no hard evidence supporting the series was canceled for political purposes, meaning all it’ll amount to for now is speculation. All that’s clear is Colbert wants to finish the show on good terms with the network and their parent company.