Brian Stelter really wants you to believe Stephen Colbert was fired because of Trump

CNN media analyst Brian Stelter claimed Tuesday President Donald Trump was the reason CBS cancelled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

CBS announced Thursday Colbert’s show would end in May 2026, citing a lack of profitability, adding that the show itself would be retired at that time. Stelter noted the attendance of multiple celebrities during the Monday episode of “The Late Show,” before repeating claims that Colbert’s show was axed due to politics.

“And a show of solidarity from Colbert’s fellow late-night comics, comedians, actors, some of his rivals who double as his friends, you know, figures like Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, Andy Cohen, and our own Anderson Cooper, of course, Cohen’s best friend,” Stelter told “The Situation Room” co-hosts Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown. “They were all in the studio audience doing a spoof on that Coldplay cam viral video moment. But I think what some of those late-night comics were trying to do was show support for Colbert on his first new episode since the show’s cancellation, because it does speak to a broader concern about whether there’s room for the kind of comedy and the kind of satire that Colbert has been known for for the past decade.”

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“It was notable also that Colbert repeatedly made jokes about the late show’s financial health, because CBS said financial reasons were the cause of the cancellation,” Stelter continued. “He did not directly dispute that, but he did repeatedly joke about it during the show, and I think he’ll probably continue to for the next ten months, since the late show does not officially go off the air until next May.”

Colbert’s show had a $100 million budget for the current season and reportedly lost $40 million, according to Puck News. Colbert, who earned $15 million a year for hosting the show, was seeing Fox News host Greg Gutfeld beat him in ratings, despite being on cable.

Stelter referenced Jon Stewart’s expletive-laced diatribe on Monday’s episode of “The Daily Show.”

“Stewart giving voice to something that many American liberals are worrying about right now. And frankly, I would say this is something that has been bubbling up for months at this point. Are TV networks going to keep supporting political satire and free speech at a time when President Trump’s campaign of retribution is rattling corporate America?” Stelter claimed. “You know, there’s been a long history in the U.S. of comics having a lot of space and room to poke fun at presidents, as well as the network executives who run the parent companies. But right now, fans feel that tradition is under threat, and it relates to a broader fear about institutions caving to Trump and quieting political dissent.”

“Jon Stewart, for one, said he’s not going anywhere, he said at least he doesn’t think he’s going anywhere,” Stelter continued. “His contract to be on ‘The Daily Show’ once a week ends at the end of this year, it ends in December. So keep an eye on that and keep an eye on whether Stewart stays.”

CBS settled a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Trump over the editing of an October 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who was Trump’s opponent in the 2024 presidential election, drawing criticism from inside the company. Paramount, the parent company of CBS, is also seeking approval for a merger with Skydance.

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