Megyn Kelly laid into Stephen Colbert on Friday for what she framed as a needlessly prolonged, 'self-important' farewell. The right-leaning commentator pointed to Late Show spots over the past several months that have felt noticeably self-serving as proof.
Colbert's Farewell Under Fire
'Johnny Carson had less of a goodbye when he announced his retirement from The Tonight Show, and he actually was beloved,' she quipped on The Megyn Kelly Show.
The night before, the host and his predecessor, David Letterman, spent a full five minutes tossing food and furniture off the Ed Sullivan Theater at a CBS logo on the ground. The display—as well as appearances from the likes of Bette Midler, John Lithgow, Drew Barrymore, and more in recent months—highlighted the theory that the cancellation is Paramount's attempt to curry favor with the Trump administration.
The network, however, has maintained the show is being canceled purely for 'financial' reasons. Kelly, on Friday's Megyn Kelly Show, made clear she believes the latter.
Kelly's Critique
'Like, this is absurd. Why are they pretending that this is some sort of temple? That is how this feels,' she said. 'It's a damn late night show that had complete irrelevance except for a very small sliver of committed far-lefts.'
CBS also gave the progressive political satirist nearly a year of airtime before fully pulling out, she pointed out. 'You would never go to see Stephen Colbert if you weren't sharing his anti-Trump politics. And this was, this is why the show failed, because you already have tons of anti-Trump everything.'
Guest Glenn Greenwald agreed, saying the Late Show felt more like 'a late night MSNBC show' as of late.
'The problem is, that Stephen Colbert obviously lives in a very tiny enclave of Los Angeles and New York elites, all of whom are liberal,' Kelly continued. 'Like if you actually do have a material disagreement with your employer, if they're doing something deeply wrong, you can go out on the air and say what's real. You have a platform.'
Both men subscribe to the theory that Colbert's cancellation was ordered for political reasons. Kelly cast doubt on the theory on Friday, saying the host is 'not exposing anything about CBS' in recent episodes. 'He's only talking about himself.'
The display—as well as spots from the likes of stars like Drew Barrymore in September—was framed as self-serving. Kelly concluded that Colbert was 'not exposing anything about CBS' and instead 'only talking about himself.'
'He just wants us to feel sorry for him because just like [Jimmy] Kimmel, who had his complete meltdown when he was off the air for five days, he can't stand the thought of life not in front of the Klieg lights. He can't stand it,' she continued. 'They need it, Glenn. It's their lifeblood.'
