The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is ending this May, and it is currently surrounded by a lot of controversy. It was reported that the show lost approximately 40 million dollars in revenue, and recently, Stephen Colbert addressed these claims, and this is what he had to say!
Stephen Colbert addresses the $40M loss claim
Stephen Colbert recently did an exit interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where he was asked whether the revenue loss figures were actually accurate, to which he said. “Um, it came as a surprise. Listen, there’s no denying that the broadcast model is in huge trouble. But our model [late night] within that overall model has been very profitable for, like, 70 years, starting with Steve Allen.”
“But maybe we were the first show to then be a detriment. Maybe we were the first ones to flip in the other direction. I do not wish to litigate it. It’s their shop, and they can do what they want.” He added
In July 2025, it was announced that The Late Show is being cancelled and will conclude its final run in May 2026. This was followed by CBS’s statement that claimed it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”
Citing low revenue and high production costs for the talk show, it was eventually scrapped, but that’s not it.
The cancellation shocked everyone in the industry, and many talk show hosts, including Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, responded to this.
They showed support for Colbert, but recently, David Letterman gave his two cents regarding the whole issue. Many people speculated that CBS and Paramount cancelled the show to appease the POTUS.
Letterman spoke to the New York Times and criticized this decision bluntly, calling out CBS for their decision and lies, saying, I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying, Let me just add one other thing. They’re lying weasels.”
We know one thing for sure, and that is, The Late Show is gone for good, as Colbert himself confirmed in his recent interviews. No one would be replacing him, and while this seems like an ending, the talk show host is currently working on the LOTR movie, which looks promising so far!
