CBS Mornings reportedly ignored the final episode of Stephen Colbert's The Late Show, despite record viewership and a star turn from Paul McCartney, following a directive from a CBS News executive unhappy with a recent Colbert gag mocking the newsroom.
According to Puck, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski urged the show not to mention the Colbert send-off. The dispute stems from a May sketch in which Colbert ridiculed CBS News's failure to secure anchor Tony Dokoupil access to China for President Donald Trump's summit with Xi Jinping. The sketch featured a man with a pumpkin stuck on his head and the tagline 'reporting live from the wrong China', set against audio of Dokoupil's actual coverage, which was broadcast from Taiwan.
A CBS source told the outlet that Colbert's roast 'kicked colleagues when they were down' and was 'unprofessional and unprovoked'. Despite the network snub, Gayle King, one of the hosts of CBS Mornings, paid tribute to Colbert on Instagram, writing: 'I can't imagine late night without Stephen Colbert and yet here we are.'
Colbert had long occupied a complicated position at the network. Last May, he sharply criticised Paramount's decision to pay $16 million to settle a Trump lawsuit over coverage on CBS News's 60 Minutes, calling the move a 'big fat bribe' aimed at greasing federal approval of the Paramount Skydance merger. Shortly before the deal closed, Paramount announced it would end Colbert's hosting gig and shutter the Late Show franchise, describing the decision as purely 'financial'. Others viewed the announcement as another attempt to appease Trump and the network's soon-to-be owners, the Ellison family.
The alleged snub is the latest reported tension inside CBS News, which has faced scrutiny since Bari Weiss was appointed editor-in-chief last year as part of the Ellison overhaul. Newsroom staff reportedly bristled at the appointment, fearing a more conservative direction, and conflicts spilled into the open when Weiss temporarily held a segment about the Trump administration unilaterally deporting alleged gang members to a gulag-like prison in El Salvador. Meanwhile, David Ellison hosted the president at a private dinner ahead of the White House Correspondents' Dinner as he seeks federal sign-off on a bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
