Colbert Reflects on CBS’s Changing Perspective on His Show Over the Years
As Stephen Colbert approaches the May 21 finale of The Late Show, discussions surrounding the end of the program have intensified. Known for his humor, Colbert has frequently joked about the show’s conclusion. However, in a recent interview with the New York Times, he offered a more reflective perspective on the matter.
CBS characterized the cancellation as a “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” Colbert noted that this decision came shortly after he critiqued Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with Donald Trump, which he described on-air as a “big fat bribe.”
Despite this backdrop, Colbert expressed a desire to refrain from arguing about the cancellation.
“I do not dispute their rationale. I do make jokes about it. But I also completely understand why people would say (A) that doesn’t make sense to me and (B) that seems fishy to me, because the network did it to themselves,” he said.
The comedian emphasized that acknowledging one point does not invalidate another. “It’s possible that two things can be true. Broadcast can be in trouble. They cannot monetize because of things like YouTube and the competition of streaming. They’ve got the books, and I do not have any desire to debate them over what they say their business model is and how it does not work for them anymore. But less than two years before they called to say, ‘It’s over,’ they were very eager for me to be signed for a long time. So, something changed.”
As he prepares for the end of his late-night tenure, Colbert has chosen to focus on gratitude rather than frustration. “I feel so much better to be ‘grateful for’ than to be ‘mad about’” the past 11 years on CBS, he concluded.
