Stephen Colbert took advantage of his monologue on the Monday, July 21st show to launch a direct and provocative phrase against Donald Trump, after the president celebrated the cancellation of “The Late Show”, unexpectedly scheduled by CBS for May 2026.
PUBLICIDAD
The conflict escalated when Trump commented on Truth Social on Thursday, July 18th that “I love that Colbert was fired. His talent was even lower than his ratings.”.
PUBLICIDAD
Colbert reacted from his show with a three-word comment that set social media on fire: “Go f*** yourself.” The phrase was uttered in front of an “eloquence camera” that zoomed in on the host’s face as he spoke.
Artists and colleagues join public support
During that same episode, Colbert introduced Puerto Rican composer Lin-Manuel Miranda and comedian “Weird Al” Yankovic, who took the stage with a humorous rendition of Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida.” The intention was to satirize the famous video of two executives who were supposedly caught in an act of infidelity last week.
But here, those who appeared on camera in a “kiss-cam” style were almost all the hosts of the late-night programs on American television, such as Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers from NBC; Andy Cohen from Bravo; John Oliver from HBO, and Jon Stewart from Comedy Central, in a powerful message of solidarity towards Colbert.
In addition, the renowned CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and actors Adam Sandler and Christopher McDonald also appeared.
The last image on the screen was a cartoon of Donald Trump hugging the Paramount logo, which immediately interrupted the musical number. Colbert pretended to read a note “from the company” canceling the song, ironically pointing out that it was “a purely financial decision.” Miranda, confused, asked if the cancellation was related to the image of Trump, but Colbert assured him that he couldn’t do anything about it.
Sandra Oh and Jon Stewart harshly criticize CBS and Paramount
Actress Sandra Oh was the first guest on Colbert’s “Late Show” and did not hold back on criticizing CBS and Paramount. She spoke theatrically about her outrage over the cancellation of the show and questioned what this represents for freedom of expression. Addressing the responsible networks directly, she declared with a quote from “Romeo and Juliet”: “A plague on both your houses. And also a pox on all those they serve”.
The strongest support came from Jon Stewart, friend and former colleague of Colbert, who lashed out on his Monday show on “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central against CBS and Paramount for canceling “The Late Show,” calling it “the path of least resistance” to achieve the merger with Skydance Media with the approval of the “fragile and vengeful president.”
In his speech, Stewart mentioned that CBS had sacrificed a successful program for commercial interests, even selling its most important news slot (“60 Minutes”) to curry favor with the current government. “They decided not to try to save their number one audience franchise” and added that much of CBS’s financial value comes precisely from programs like Colbert’s and CBS News.
The segment ended with Stewart leading a gospel-style choir that, unfiltered and uncensored, urged the networks to “put on their pants” or “go f*** yourself.”
Just like CBS, the owner of Comedy Central is Paramount.
Why was “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert canceled?
Last week, Colbert criticized Paramount for reaching a $16 million agreement with Trump in exchange for the president dropping a lawsuit against CBS over a segment about Kamala Harris on “60 Minutes” during the presidential campaign.
Colbert described the agreement as “a big, fat bribe”, as the goal would be to please the Trump administration to approve the sale of Paramount to Skydance Media.
In a statement last Thursday, CBS only cited “financial pressures” as the reason for ending the program and announced that it will completely cancel “The Late Show” franchise that began in 1993 with David Letterman.
Like Colbert, who replaced Letterman in 2015 and was one of the main critics of Donald Trump, several lawmakers have expressed suspicion about the decision made by CBS and Paramount. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren commented on social media that “CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert criticized CBS’s parent company, Paramount, for its $16 million deal with Trump, a deal that seems like a bribe...America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”.