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Stephen Colbert was feeling all the love and support from some of his late-night allies and famous friends on Monday night after it was announced that The Late Show had been canceled.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people see this show going away as a sign of something truly dire, and while I am a big fan of me, I don\u2019t necessarily agree with that statement because we here at The Late Show never saw our job as changing anything other than how you felt at the end of the day, which I think is a worthy goal,\u201d Colbert told his live studio audience during Monday\u2019s show, before quipping, \u201cOr rather, changing how you felt the next morning when you watched on your phone, which is why broadcast TV is dying. You\u2019re part of the problem. Look in the mirror, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n
More from The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n The host continued, \u201cPoint is I don\u2019t want this show to be associated with making you sad or anxious, but since I\u2019m the guy who\u2019s going away next year, I\u2019m thinking maybe I\u2019m not the guy to cheer you up. So I thought music, OK, that makes people happy, right?\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s when Lin-Manuel Miranda and \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic came out to cheer up the crowd in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York by singing Coldplay\u2019s \u201cViva la Vida\u201d (the song seemed timely, huh?<\/a>). The camera then panned to the audience for a Coldplay kiss cam parody, except it featured several more famous faces showing their solidarity to Colbert, including Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper, Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Last Week Tonight\u2018s John Oliver, The Tonight Show\u2018s Jimmy Fallon, Late Night\u2018s Seth Meyers and The Daily Show\u2018s Jon Stewart<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last week, Colbert and CBS announced that The Late Show would conclude at the end of the 2025-26 season<\/a> in May next year. The network cited a \u201cfinancial decision\u201d amid a declining linear TV landscape<\/a> for the cancellation.<\/p>\n At the taping of Thursday\u2019s show last week, the host told the live audience that he was informed of the decision to end\u00a0The Late Show the night before, drawing boos from the audience.<\/p>\n Earlier on Monday night, during his monologue, Colbert also addressed people who \u201chave been speculating about the timing of this decision from Paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re pointing out that last Monday, just two days before my cancellation, I delivered a blistering monologue in which I showed the courage to have a mustache,\u201d he joked (as he actually slammed Paramount in the monologue in question over their 16 million settlement with President Donald Trump). \u201cI mean, obviously, CBS saw my upper lip and boom, canceled. Coincidence? Oh, I think not. This is worse than fascism. This is stachism.\u201d<\/p>\n The show\u2019s cancellation announcement comes as David Ellison\u2019s Skydance Media is currently in the process of acquiring Paramount Global, which is the parent company of CBS. However, the deal is still pending FCC approval, more than a year after the proposed merger was announced. Earlier this month,\u00a0Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0from Trump, who sued over former Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019\u00a060 Minutes\u00a0interview.\u00a0Sources previously told\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>\u00a0that Paramount believes the lawsuit posed a threat to Skydance\u2019s deal to acquire the company, as it seeks approval by the FCC under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n While Colbert has previously criticized the settlement on The Late Show, CBS said in a statement that it wasn\u2019t a factor in the decision to end the show.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the weekend, somebody at CBS followed up their gracious press release with a gracious anonymous leak saying they pulled the plug on our show because of losses pegged between $40 million and $50 million a year,\u201d Colbert later said during his monologue. \u201cForty million is a big number. I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million? Oh yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the news last week, Trump also took to his Truth Social platform to positively gloat about the series being canceled<\/a>, writing, \u201cI absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday\u2019s show, Colbert clapped back at Trump<\/a>, saying, \u201cHow dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go fuck yourself,\u201d drawing cheers from his live audience. They also broke out in a chant, yelling, \u201cStephen! Stephen! Stephen!\u201d<\/p>\n The comedian has been hosting the popular late-night talk show since 2015, after taking it over from David Letterman, who launched The Late Show in 1993.<\/p>\n Best of The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for THR’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n