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Stephen Colbert Is Practically Daring CBS to Shut Him Down Early

BBG News

Over the course of the weekend, it became clear to Stephen Colbert on The Late Show on Monday that their program is being canceled, sparking a whirlwind of anger. Reflecting on this sudden turn of events, he commented that while CBS may have thought they had ended the show, they had underestimated its impact – “But they made one mistake: They left me alive!” The crowd responded with shouts of “Stephen! Stephen!” This reaction, in hindsight, might have been a hint that Colbert’s statement was not entirely tongue-in-cheek.

On Monday, Stephen Colbert revealed on The Late Show that he realized over the weekend that their program is being canceled, causing a lot of anger. He joked that CBS underestimated the show’s impact by saying “But they made one mistake: They left me alive!” The audience’s response of “Stephen! Stephen!” might have been a sign that Colbert was only partly kidding.

Since then, Stephen Colbert has been eagerly criticizing Donald Trump and CBS/Paramount with increased fervor. By continuously provoking his main adversary during a period when network executives are under immense pressure for perceived politically-motivated terminations, he’s not only making the most of his remaining 10 months – he’s essentially challenging his superiors to cancel the show prematurely. (Recall NBC’s experience with Megyn Kelly in 2018 as an example of a costly contract failing to protect a host deemed a risk on air.) If they decide to terminate the show, Colbert will have compelling evidence that their claimed “purely financial decision” may have been politically motivated.

For individuals who seldom watch late-night talk shows, it’s beneficial to catch up on the standout moments from this week’s “Late Show.” On Monday, Colbert dedicated his entire monologue to Trump. He initially discussed his show’s cancellation (“Cancel culture has gone too far”), expressing gratitude that he could now speak openly about Trump, starting by saying, “I don’t care for him. It seems he lacks the necessary skills to be President.” He then humorously questioned the financial losses reported for his show: “I can understand losing $24 million, but where did Paramount spend the other 16… oh yeah.” In a clip that quickly went viral, Colbert responded to Trump’s posts criticizing him and gloating over his show’s decline by asking, “Would an unskilled person be capable of composing this satirical witticism: ‘Go f-ck yourself’?” Before diving into the controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday letter bombshell, Colbert commented, “The President was friends with a pedophile.

Stephen Colbert started off by expressing his joy on Tuesday, saying it was an excellent day for him because he wasn’t Donald Trump. He then touched upon reports stating that FBI agents were instructed to search through Epstein’s files for any references to Trump. Jokingly, he said, ‘Even if all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could hide who Dumpty (Trump) slept with his friend,’ it wouldn’t change anything. He also joked about Trump earning a ‘diamond pervert status’ by flying on Epstein’s plane too many times. When discussing Trump’s apparent obsession with arresting Barack Obama, Colbert expressed bewilderment and asked, ‘What on earth is wrong with this man?’ Lastly, he humorously connected the rising beef prices to Trump’s tariffs.

The Late Show on Wednesday began by mocking Coca-Cola’s plans to cater to the President by producing cane sugar-sweetened soda in the U.S., humorously advertising a cocaine-infused “Don Jr. Coke.” Stephen Colbert started off with some jokes about the approaching heatwave, then transitioned to a familiar topic – Donald Trump. “One person who’s already sweating is Donald Trump,” Colbert said, allowing the audience to boo. The host reveled in the news that the Justice Department had informed the President in May that his name was found in the Epstein files. “He’s in the file! He’s in the file!” Colbert exclaimed, grinning widely. “You know how they say there’s no such thing as bad publicity? They’re not talking about this.” He displayed a collection of Trump-Epstein photos, casually mentioned “Micropenis DJT” among fictional Trump nicknames, and mocked Trump for the mathematical incongruity of his promised prescription drug price reductions. Colbert then returned to “how [Trump is] making my network crawl,” citing the President’s assertion that he would secure another $20 million in free airtime from CBS. “By bending the knee, they lost like $40 million this year,” Colbert said. “They better watch out. They might get canceled for purely financial reasons.

On Thursday, Colbert concluded his show for the week, devoting over eight minutes to the Epstein affair. In the initial cold open skit, he used a series of clips from The Three Stooges poking each other’s eyes as satire towards Attorney General Pam Bondi, who cited a torn cornea as her reason for absenting an inopportune speaking engagement at a sex trafficking summit. In his monologue, Colbert scrutinized the recent Trump-Epstein news (“What’s next? You’re telling me the Pope is listed in the Catholic files? That a bear graces the cover of this month’s Modern Woods Pooper?”), discussing Epstein’s evasiveness on Trump in a 2010 deposition, Mark Epstein’s allegation that his brother cut ties with Trump due to his belief that he was a fraud, and the involvement of Ghislaine Maxwell. After moving away from the topic, he joked about the President’s recent remarks on artificial intelligence, which primarily served as a suggestion for viewers to watch Wednesday’s controversial season premiere of South Park (also owned by Paramount), featuring an explicit AI-generated Trump parody. I would describe this as a bold statement, but I have a feeling Colbert will have much more to discuss when the show returns on Monday.

In terms of Trump’s history of lawsuits against speech that’s generally protected by legal precedent, such as satire and commentary, Colbert’s stance is daring. Whether you view his reaction to the cancellation of The Late Show as courageous or reckless, it’s undeniable that he’s playing a clever game with Paramount and CBS. If the higher-ups decide to take him off the air before May 2026, they’ll come close to proving that their decision was motivated by more than the cost of producing his show. On the other hand, if they choose to let him continue for another 10 months, he’ll have the opportunity to express himself freely for the next 10 months. I can’t fathom either scenario pleasing his superiors.

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2025-07-25 19:06

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