Former “Late Show” host David Letterman scorched CBS on Friday and took aim at his old network’s leadership over the decision to cancel the Stephen Colbert-led franchise, one he began over three decades ago.
“I think one day, if not today, the people at CBS who have manipulated and handled this are going to be embarrassed because this is gutless,” he told former “Late Show” producers Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay in a Zoom chat uploaded to his YouTube page.
Letterman — in his first public comments since the network’s shock announcement — called the move “pure cowardice” before alluding to its parent company Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over his widely panned “60 Minutes” lawsuit.
CBS has claimed that the move to cancel “The Late Show” — hosted by a frequent Trump critic in Colbert — was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”
While reports have indicated that the program faced financial challenges in recent years, Letterman argued that “goons” like David Ellison know all too well that the TV business isn’t the same as it once was.
“There’s no fairness to these goons. You’re telling me they don’t know that? These guys are bottom feeders. That’s exactly what this is. Of course they know that broadcast television is withering,” he said.
“So now they just want to make sure — on top of buying something that doesn’t have the same value as it had 30 years ago — they don’t want to be hassled by the United States government. So they want CBS to take care of all of that mess!”
Letterman further questioned if the network was “losing so much money” with “The Late Show.”
“They did not do the correct thing, they did not handle Stephen Colbert — the face of that network — in the way he deserves to have been handled,” he said.
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While he acknowledged that the news was both shocking and a “bummer,” Letterman told his former producers that he loves the move for Colbert, nonetheless.
“He’s a martyr, good for him,” Letterman said. “If you listen carefully, you can hear them unfolding chairs at the [Television] Hall of Fame for his induction.”