Jon Stewart slams CBS for axing Stephen Colbert’s late night show

“The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart lambasted CBS on Monday over its decision to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” dismissing the claim that it was a financial decision and not meant to appease President Donald Trump. 

“Obviously, I am certainly not the most objective to comment on this matter,” Stewart conceded before revisiting Colbert’s late-night rise on Comedy Central on “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” before singing his praises at CBS.

“Watching Stephen exceed all expectations in the role and become the number one late-night show on network television has been an undeniable great pleasure for me as a viewer and as his friend, and now Stephen has been canceled for ‘purely financial reasons,’ Stewart said while casting doubt on the network’s claim. 

Comedy Central and CBS are sister networks under the Paramount umbrella.

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Stewart acknowledged late-night TV broadly is struggling financially, but stressed that “when your industry is faced with changes, you don’t just call it a day.”

“The fact that CBS didn’t try to save their number one-rated network late-night franchise that’s been on the air for over three decades is part of what’s making everybody wonder, ‘Was this purely financial, or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger?'” he asked. 

“Was killing a show that you know rankled a fragile and vengeful president so insecure, suffering terribly from a case of chronic penis insufficiency,” Stewart said. “I believe CBS lost the benefit of the doubt two weeks prior when they sold out their flagship news program to pay an extortion fee to said president.”

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Stewart said he understood making decisions with an $8 billion merger at stake, but grew serious, saying, “The shows that you now seek to cancel, censor and control, a not insignificant portion of that $8 billion value came from those f—ing shows.”

“That’s what made you that money! Shows that say something, shows that take a stand, shows that are unafraid,” he said. “We try. We f—ing try every night. And if you believe, as corporations or as networks, you can make yourselves so innocuous, that you can serve a gruel so flavorless that you will never again be on the boy king’s radar, why will anyone watch you, and you are f—ing wrong.” 

The Comedy Central host went on to say critics won’t find a “smoking gun email or phone call” to answer why Colbert’s show was being canceled but that the answer is “in the fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America’s institutions at this very moment.”

“This is not the moment to give in. I’m not giving in. I’m not going anywhere, I think,” Stewart said, jokingly alluding to how Comedy Central is also owned by CBS’ parent company Paramount. “To those institutions, to those corporations and advertisers and universities and law firms, all of them. If you still think that bending the knee to Trump will save you, I have one thing to say… sack the f— up.”

COLBERT’S ‘LATE SHOW’ WAS REPORTEDLY LOSING CBS $40M A YEAR AS CRITICS SPECULATE POLITICS DROVE CANCELLATION

Stewart finished his monologue with a gospel choir behind him, preaching to the audience, “If you’re afraid and you protect your bottom line, I’ve got but one thing to say, just one little phrase: go f— yourself!” 

CBS shocked the nation with its announcement last week that it would end “The Late Show” in May 2026. Liberal critics accused CBS and Paramount of being politically motivated, but a report from Puck’s Matt Belloni showed that Colbert’s show was costing the network $40 million a year and that it had been running on a whopping $100 million budget per season. 

Stewart himself admitted last week he doesn’t know this future at Comedy Central under future ownership.

Colbert’s cancellation comes on the heels of Paramount settling Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News over its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris last year. Colbert was among the voices who were harshly critical of the move, likening it to paying a bribe with the merger looming and needing administration approval.

Meanwhile, Fox News Channel’s “Gutfeld!” has surged to become late-night’s highest-rated program. In the second quarter of 2025, the show notched 3 million viewers and 365,000 in the 25-54 age demographic at the 10 p.m. ET hour, putting it ahead of “The Late Show,” “The Daily Show,” and late-night programs ABC and NBC.