Jimmy Kimmel has called for late night viewers to cancel their Paramount+ subscriptions to support Stephen Colbert after his CBS show was cancelled.
Final Episode Gathering
The late night host took shots at CBS’ parent company alongside other talk show personalities Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and John Oliver on Monday episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The group appeared together for the final time ahead of the show’s last episode airing May 21.
Kimmel, 58, noted that his fans showed support for him by cancelling their Disney+ subscriptions when Jimmy Kimmel Live! was controversially pulled off the air in September over his comments after the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
“I will tell you, when I got knocked off the air for a few days, people canceled Disney+,” Kimmel said. “Why aren’t you people canceling Paramount+? Because you never had it in the first place?”
Defending Late Night
During Monday’s episode, Colbert asked his guests to “make a case for late night,” which led Kimmel to point out the strength of the fanbase for the struggling genre.
“We have a lot of shows. 30,000 people watching each one, and it adds up,” Kimmel said. “People watch us on YouTube now. People have a lot of different options and they keep coming to us.”
Paramount did not return The Independent’s request for comment on the remarks.
Reasons Behind Cancellation
CBS announced last July that the network would be canceling the long-running Late Show with a statement describing Colbert as “irreplaceable” and insisting that it was “purely a financial decision.”
However, some people — including CBS staffers, David Letterman and Colbert himself — have speculated that the Emmy-winning show was canceled to appease President Donald Trump, who is a vocal critic of late night shows, to get the FCC’s approval for the now-complete $8.4 billion merger between Paramount and David Ellison’s Skydance.
The cancellation also came days after Colbert criticized Paramount for reaching a $16 million settlement with Trump over accusations that 60 Minutes edited a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris, which the late night host called a “big fat bribe,” pointing out that legal experts deemed the president’s lawsuit as frivolous and without merit.
Colbert's Legacy
Colbert took over as host of The Late Show from David Letterman in 2015 and carried the iconic franchise to the end of its 33 years.
Kimmel confirmed that his show will air a rerun on the night of Colbert’s final episode in order to not compete with the sendoff. He made the same move in 2015 opposite Letterman’s final show as host of The Late Show.
Starting May 22, Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen will take over the 11:35 p.m. slot left in Colbert’s place.
