Paramount and Comedy Central did not immediately respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n
Minutes later, Colbert on “Late Night” echoed Stewart in responding to Trump\u2019s celebrating his show’s cancellation, offering his own “go f— yourself” to the president.<\/p>\n
Stewart\u2019s diatribe comes less than a week after it was announced that CBS would be canceling \u201cThe Late Show,\u201d <\/a>a stalwart of late-night television that Colbert took over in 2015. CBS said it was \u201cpurely a financial decision\u201d and \u201cnot related in any way to the show\u2019s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the news shook the entertainment industry and immediately fueled speculation that Colbert\u2019s show, which regularly skewered Trump, had been a casualty of Paramount Global\u2019s efforts to merge with Skydance Media. <\/p>\n That deal has been the subject of particular scrutiny as it awaits approval from Trump\u2019s Federal Communications Commission. <\/p>\n While media mergers and acquisitions have long been the subject of regulatory scrutiny over the outside power of consolidated companies, the Paramount-Skydance deal has taken on a particularly political flavor. Last week, David Ellison, Skydance\u2019s CEO, met with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and made a promise to embrace \u201cdiverse viewpoints\u201d that will reflect \u201cthe varied ideological perspectives of American viewers.\u201d<\/p>\n Since Skydance announced its intention to merge with Paramount in an $8 billion transaction a year ago, the deal has faced multiple delays \u2014 first under the outgoing Biden administration, then under Trump, who accused CBS News\u2019 marquee program, \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d of distorting an interview with Democratic opponent Kamala Harris during the 2024 election and subsequently filed a lawsuit. <\/p>\n While many legal experts viewed the suit as frivolous, media reports said Paramount boss Shari Redstone favored exploring a settlement<\/a> with Trump as a way to overcome further regulatory hurdles. <\/p>\n The settlement, for $16 million<\/a>, was announced this month. <\/p>\n The settlement, and the negotiations leading up to it, rankled several high-profile people at CBS. \u201c60 Minutes\u201d correspondent Scott Pelley said in June that such an agreement would be \u201cvery damaging\u201d to CBS and Paramount. In April, longtime \u201c60 Minutes\u201d editor Bill Owens stepped down, citing the program\u2019s loss of editorial independence<\/a>. CBS News boss Wendy McMahon quit a month later.<\/a><\/p>\n On Monday\u2019s episode of \u201cThe Late Show,\u201d Colbert blasted the agreement as a \u201cbig fat bribe.\u201c<\/p>\n Colbert channeled an action-star hero and said CBS \u201cmade one mistake: They left me alive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd now for the next 10 months, then gloves are off,\u201d he told the audience.<\/p>\n He brought on \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda to cheer up the crowd with a Coldplay cover, and among those captured on the \u201ckiss cam\u201d were CNN\u2019s Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, fellow late-night hosts Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, and Stewart and John Oliver. <\/p>\n A cartoon Donald Trump was caught embracing a Paramount logo in a sway, a reference to the recent viral incident at a Coldplay concert that led to the resignation of a data company CEO<\/a>. <\/p>\n Stewart and Colbert have been close for years, dating to when Colbert joined \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d in 1997. In 2005, \u201cThe Colbert Report\u201d debuted, airing after \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d and launching Colbert into stardom. <\/p>\n![\"jon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/250721-stephen-colbert-jon-stewart-2010-ac-732p-dd13be.jpg\")
Stephen Colbert, left, and Jon Stewart appear on stage at Comedy Central’s “Night Of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert For Autism Education” at the Beacon Theatre in New York, on Oct. 2, 2010.Charles Sykes \/ AP file<\/p>\n