
The Paramount comics, Colbert and Stewart, are sharp critics of the '60 Minutes' deal
CBS 'Late Show' host Stephen Colbert condemned parent company Paramount Global's settlement of President Donald Trump's lawsuit over a '60 Minutes' story as a 'big fat bribe' during his first show back from a vacation.
Colbert followed 'The Daily Show' host Jon Stewart's attack of the deal one week earlier. Stewart works for Comedy Central, also owned by Paramount, making the two comics the most visible internal critics of the $16 million settlement that was announced on July 1.
Colbert's 'bribe' reference was to the pending sale of Paramount to Skydance Media, which needs Trump administration approval. Critics of the deal that ended Trump's lawsuit over the newsmagazine's editing of its interview last fall with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris suggested it was primarily to clear a hurdle to that sale.
'I am offended,' Colbert said in his monologue Monday night. 'I don't know if anything — anything — will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help.'
He said the technical name in legal circles for the deal was 'big fat bribe.'
Jon Stewart terms it 'shameful'
Stewart began discussing the 'shameful settlement' on his show a week earlier when he was 'interrupted' by a fake Arby's ad on the screen. 'That's why it was so wrong,' he said upon his 'return.'
He discussed the deal in greater detail with the show's guest, retired '60 Minutes' correspondent Steve Kroft, making his views clear through a series of leading questions.
'I would assume internally, this is devastating to the people who work in a place that pride themselves on contextual, good journalism?' Stewart asked.
'Devastating is a good word,' Kroft replied.
A handful of media reports in the past two weeks have speculated that Skydance boss David Ellison might try to curry favor with Trump by eliminating the comics' jobs if the sale is approved. A representative for Ellison did not immediately return a message for comment on Tuesday.
It would be easier to get rid of Stewart, since he works one night a week at a network that no longer produces much original content. Colbert is the ratings leader in late-night broadcast television, however, and is a relentless Trump critic.
The antipathy is mutual. Trump called Colbert 'a complete and total loser' in a Truth Social post last fall, suggesting CBS was wasting its money on him. 'HE IS VERY BORING,' Trump wrote.
Colbert slips in a quip
Colbert alluded to reports about his job security in his monologue, pointing to the mustache he grew during his vacation. 'OK, OK, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert, if they can't find him?' he joked.
Colbert and Stewart both earned Emmy nominations this week for outstanding talk series. Together with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, all three nominees are tough on Trump.
CBS News journalists have largely been quiet publicly since the settlement's announcement. Two top executives, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon and '60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens, both quit or were forced out prior to the settlement for making their dissatisfaction about the idea known internally.
Reporting about the settlement on the day it was announced, 'CBS Evening News' anchor John Dickerson said viewers would have to decide on their own what it meant to them.
'Can you hold power to account after paying it millions?" Dickerson asked. 'Can an audience trust you when it thinks you've traded away that trust? The audience will decide that. Our job is to show up to honor what we witness on behalf of the people.'
___
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Key takeaways from the EU-US trade deal
EU head Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump on Sunday struck a deal on tariffs, just days before the August 1 deadline when Trump had threatened to impose steep levies on European goods had an agreement not been reached. These are the key takeaways from the deal: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen clinched an agreement Sunday with US President Donald Trump to avoid crippling tariffs from hitting the bloc, with both leaders hailing a 'good deal'. The stakes were high with a looming August 1 deadline and $1.9 trillion transatlantic trading relationship on the line. Many European businesses will breathe a sigh of relief after the leaders agreed the 27-country bloc will face a baseline levy of 15 percent instead of a threatened 30 percent – but the deal will not satisfy everyone. Here is what we know so far: What did EU, US agree on? Both sides confirmed there will be a 15-percent across-the-board rate on a majority of EU goods – the same level secured by Japan this month – with bilateral tariff exemptions on some products. Read moreTrump announces 'massive' trade deal with Japan, 15 percent tariff on exports The deal will bring relief for the bloc's auto sector, employing around 13 million people – and hit by Trump with 25-percent tariffs, on top of a pre-existing 2.5 percent. 'Obviously, it is good news for the car industry. So Germany will be happy. And all the EU members with auto supply chains, they go from 27.5 to 15 percent,' said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute For International Economics. A 15-percent levy will remain 'costly' for German automakers, 'but it is manageable', said trade geopolitics expert Elvire Fabry at the Jacques Delors Institute. While 15 percent is much higher than pre-existing US tariffs on European goods – averaging 4.8 percent – it mirrors the status quo, with companies currently facing an additional flat rate of 10 percent imposed by Trump since April. The EU also committed to buy $750 billion of liquefied natural gas, oil and nuclear fuels from the United States – split equally over three years – to replace Russian energy sources. And it will pour $600 billion more in additional investments in the United States. Trump said EU countries – which recently pledged to ramp up their defence spending within NATO – would be purchasing 'hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of military equipment'. Are there exemptions? Von der Leyen said the 15-percent rate applied across most sectors, including semiconductors and pharmaceuticals – a critical export for Ireland, which the bloc has sought to protect. Trump in April launched probes that could lead to significantly steeper tariffs on the two key sectors, warning this month he could slap 200-percent levies on drugs. Brussels and Washington agreed a bilateral tariff exemption for key goods including aircraft, certain chemicals, semiconductor equipment, certain agricultural products and critical raw materials, von der Leyen said. The EU currently faces 50-percent tariffs on its steel exports to the United States, but von der Leyen said a compromise on the metal had been reached with Trump. 'Between us, tariffs will be cut and a quota system will be put in place,' she said. It is understood that European steel would be hit with 50-percent levies only after a certain amount of the metal arrived in the United States, but no details were initially provided on the mechanism. What happens next? The deal needs to be approved by EU member states, whose ambassadors will meet first thing Monday morning for a debrief from the European Commission. And there are still technical talks to come, since the agreement needs to be fully fleshed out. Von der Leyen described the deal as a 'framework' agreement. 'Details have to be sorted out, and that will happen over the next weeks,' she said. In particular, she said there has yet to be a final decision on alcohol, critical since France and The Netherlands have been pushing for carve-outs for wine and beer respectively. 'This is something which has to be sorted out in the next days,' von der Leyen said. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
President Trump 'Not Happy' With His Golf Nickname
President Trump 'Not Happy' With His Golf Nickname originally appeared on The Spun. President Trump is likely "not happy" with his golf nickname, according to his supporters. The President of the United States has developed a new nickname on the course this weekend. President Trump, 79, played a couple of rounds of golf in Scotland. The President of the United States has a prestigious course, Trump Turnberry, in Scotland, where he has family roots. President Trump, who was in Scotland to work on a deal with the European Union, played a round of golf on Saturday and another round on Sunday. However, video of President Trump potentially getting caught bending the rules is going viral on social media. Video of President Trump's caddie appearing to help him out with a drop is going viral on social media. Was this just a typical golf drop or a bend-the-rules drop? In the wake of the video, President Trump is being referred to as the "Commander in Cheat." He's not going to like that. "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE CADDY DROPPING A BALL FOR ME! INVESTIGATE OBAMA AND KAMALA HARRIS INSTEAD! STOP CALLING ME COMMANDER IN CHEAT!" one fan joked. "No wonder the Commander in Cheat always wins the championship trophy at his own golf courses. He cheats at everything because he sucks at everything," another fan added. "His caddies also tee him up in the rough, toss his ball out of bunkers, and roll back six footers to him. How else is a 79-y-o fat guy supposed to win championships?" another fan added. "Such a perfect metaphor for our Commander-in-Cheat," one fan added. "Donald Trump's blatant golf cheating, as captured in the video and chronicled in 'Commander in Cheat,' mirrors his lifelong pattern of deceit, from falsifying scores to undermining democracy, proving he's unfit for any fair game or office," one fan added. What do you make of President Trump's nickname? President Trump 'Not Happy' With His Golf Nickname first appeared on The Spun on Jul 28, 2025 This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jul 28, 2025, where it first appeared.

31 minutes ago
Can his golf course 'further' US-UK relations? Trump will use meeting with PM to try
EDINBURGH, Scotland -- President Donald Trump once suggested his golf course in Scotland 'furthers" the U.S.-U.K. relationship. Now he's getting the chance to prove it. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Monday with Trump at a golf property owned by the president's family near Turnberry in southwestern Scotland — then later traveling to Abderdeen, on the country's northeast coast, where there's another Trump golf course and a third is opening soon. During his first term in 2019, Trump posted of his Turnberry property, 'Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!' Starmer is not a golfer, but toggling between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name — and on golf's ability to shape geopolitics. While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U.S. goods but has since begun negotiating easing trade tensions, Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach. He's gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May. Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the U.K.'s aerospace sector from U.S. tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25% to 10% while increasing the amount of U.S. beef it pledged to import. The prime minister's office says Monday's meeting will also touch on Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, and that it hopes to welcome the Trump administration working with officials in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire. Starmer plans to stress the urgent need to cease the fighting and work to end starvation and other suffering occurring amid increasingly desperate circumstances in Gaza. Also on the agenda, according to Starmer's office, are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine — particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days. Protesters, meanwhile, have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing course, after demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to decry the president's visit. Discussions with Starmer follow Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15% tariffs on most goods from both countries — though many major details remain pending. On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen for an official ribbon cutting. It opens to the public on Aug. 13 and tee times are already for sale — with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales. There are still lingering U.S.-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning after the previous agreements, including the tariff rates Washington imposes on steel imported from the U.K. Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however, Starmer's attempts to stay on Trump's good side appears to be working. 'The U.K. is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them — that's their ultimate protection,' Trump said during the G7. Also likely to improve Trump's mood is the fact that the U.S. ran an $11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the U.K. than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow. The president has for months railed against yawning U.S. trade deficits with key allies and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in hurry. Trump is set to return to Britain in September for an unprecedented second state visit. Trump will be hosted then by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.