Former late-night host Samantha Bee has described the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show as a ‘no-brainer’, given the programme was losing $40m (£31m) a year. Speaking on the Breaking Bread with Tom Papa podcast, Bee said the decision was ‘awful’ but financially unavoidable.
Bee, who hosted Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, noted that ‘legacy shows are haemorrhaging money with no real end in sight’ as audiences shift to online content. She added that viewers no longer rely on late-night TV for news recaps, saying: ‘People are literally on their phones all the time… they’re very well-versed in what has happened.’
The cancellation comes amid Paramount’s $8bn merger with Skydance, which requires approval from the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission. Bee pointed out that when a president must approve a merger, ‘the thing you can’t do is make jokes about him’ – a reference to Colbert’s frequent on-air criticisms of Donald Trump.
Colbert, 61, recently called a $16m settlement paid by Paramount to Trump over another CBS show a ‘big fat bribe’. Soon after, Paramount announced the Late Show would end in May 2025. Trump celebrated the firing on his Truth Social platform, writing: ‘I absolutely love that Colbert was fired.’
Bee, 55, said the merger made the decision ‘such a no-brainer’, adding: ‘It’s so much easier for them to cut it loose with this merger coming down the pike.’ She described Trump as ‘a thin-skinned idiot’ who cares about such matters.
