The late show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026, says CBS

The late show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026, the CBS television network reported in a surprising statement on Thursday.

This move “is a pure financial solution on a challenging background on a late night (television) and” is not related in any way to the presentation, content or other questions of the show, “CBS said.

The announcement comes just two weeks after the CBS Paramount Mother Company arranges a case with President Donald Trump, resulting from an interview with CBS with his rival in the 2024 election, Kamala Harris.

This move ends in more than three decades of an old program, leaving the network without a comedy talk show for the first time for the first time since 1993.

The host Stephen Colbert broke the news on Thursday evening recording, triggering Boos’s Chorus from the Live Studio audience.

“I want to say that CBS people were great partners,” Collbert said, adding, “And of course, I’m grateful to you, the audience who joined us every night here, there, all over the world.”

Colbert was informed of the decision on Wednesday night, he told the audience during his monologue on Thursday.

“Yes, I share your feeling,” he said, as the crowd at Ed Sullivan’s theater in New York shouted “No”.

“This is not only the end of our show, but this is the end of the late CBS show. I’m not replaced. All this is just going away,” he continued. “This is a fantastic job. I wish someone else to get it.”

The late show was created by CBS, the BBC American news partner in 1993 as a NBC athlete. He came after a dispute between the hosts David Leterman and Jay Leno about who should inherit Johnny Carson in the wild popular NBC Tonight show.

Colbert made the CBS program from Letterman in 2015 and has become one of Trump’s most disadvantaged TV critics on a late night.

Before taking work at the Late Show, Colbert hosted the Collbert Report on Comedy Central, a program that distorted US conservative policy and culture.

The announcement of the end of the program came against the backdrop of conversations between Paramount and Skydance Media to merge the two companies, a move that will require approval by the Federal Government of the United States.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff published on X on Thursday that he was done with the fact that he was an interview with Colbert, just before the cancellation was announced.

He questioned whether the message was tied to the settlement of $ 16 million (£ 12 million), which the network agreed to pay Trump, writes: “If Paramount and CBS ended the late show for political reasons, the public deserves to know.”

The agreement came after Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS last October, claiming that the network had been deceptively editing an interview that was broadcast in its news for 60 minutes with its rival in the presidential election Kamal Harris to “direct the scale in favor of the Democratic Party.”

Paramount said he would pay to settle the case, but with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, he is not paid directly or indirectly.

Colbert is a major critic of Trump and hosted many democratic politicians during his term as host. Last month, he held a discussion with Zhodi Mamdani, a democratic socialist, leading the race to be the next mayor of New York.

The decision to cancel the program comes as the networks are fighting to attract more junior viewers, against the backdrop of competition from online streams and podcasts, along with the increased cost of live television.

“We consider Stephen Colbert an irreplaceable and will withdraw the” late show, “CBS said in his statement.

“We are proud that Stephen called CBS at home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of the greats who take care of a late night.”

Rival Broadcast Networks, ABC and NBC will continue to emit their talk shows on a late night.

Jimmy Kimmel live on ABC live! It will continue to record in the fall while NBC hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Mayers have signed contracts to continue the household of The Tonight Show and Late Night by 2028, according to The Hollywood ReporterS

Responding to the news from the end of the Colbet show, Kimmel seems to strive for the net by posting in his Instagram history: “Love you Stephen.

Former Late Show Band leader, John Batist, has identified the host of the outgoing talk show as “the greatest ever done.”

“My admiration and appreciation for you are bottomless,” writes director Jude Aptow. “Excited to see what other splendor you put into the world.”

“I’m extremely sad. I adore you, Stephen,” Snezhanka’s actress Rachel Zgler suggested.

North Star Adam Scott added: “I love you Stephen. It’s an absolute bull … And for one I look forward to the next 10 months of the shows.”

Actor and director Ben Stiller posted to X that he “regrets” CBS “canceled one of the best shows they have.

“Wishing all the people who work so hard on this show all the best.”