Late-night legend David Letterman is once again coming to the defense of Stephen Colbert, whose “Late Show” comes to a close later this month after CBS announced in July 2025 that the historic program was ending for good. While the network maintains the maneuver was a “financial decision,” Letterman told The New York Times that he’s not buying that rationale.
“He was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, ‘Oh no, there’s not going to be any trouble with that guy. We’re going to take care of the show. We’re just going to throw that into the deal. When will the ink on the check dry?’” Letterman told NYT journalist Jason Zinoman. “I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying. Let me just add one other thing, Jason. They’re lying weasels.”
When CBS announced Colbert would be pulled off the air, Paramount, CBS’ parent company, was in the process of being acquired by David Ellison’s Skydance. At the time, the deal was awaiting final approval from the FCC, and by proxy, President Donald Trump, a vocal hater of Colbert and the late-night genre. The timing of the cancellation led some, like Letterman, to speculate that Paramount and CBS cancelled “The Late Show” to appease the Trump administration and ensure the Skydance merger would go through legal scrutiny.
Letterman joined “The Late Show” as host in 1993 and stepped aside for Colbert to take his place in 2015.
This isn’t the first time Letterman spoke out in support of his successor. Shortly after news broke of “The Late Show’s” cancellation, Letterman said in an interview posted to his YouTube channel that he thought the decision was “pure cowardice.”
“They did not do the correct thing,” he added. “They did not handle Stephen Colbert — the face of that network — in the way he deserves to have been handled.”
Leave a Reply