Colbert jokes about 'cancel culture' and has a very pointed message for President Donald Trump
'I'm going to go ahead and say it: Cancel culture's gone way too far,' Colbert said to a rambunctious audience that loudly chanted his name.
CBS and parent Paramount Global said the decision to end the 'Late Show' next May was purely financial. It hasn't gone unnoticed — and was mentioned by Colbert Monday night — that the announcement came days after the comic had sharply criticized Paramount's $16 million settlement of Trump's lawsuit over a '60 Minutes' interview.
Colbert, known for his sharp comic takedowns of the president, said that 'over the weekend, it sunk in that they killed off our show. But they made one mistake. They left me alive.'
Now, he said, 'I can say what I really think of Donald Trump, starting right now.' As his audience cheered him on, Colbert said, 'I don't care for him. Doesn't seem to have the skill set to be president.'
Colbert's personal message to President Donald Trump
He read a passage from a Trump social media message saying that he loved that the 'untalented' Colbert had been fired.
'How dare you, sir,' Colbert said. 'Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism?' The show switched to a close-up camera where Colbert appeared to say, 'f—- you,' the word bleeped out and his mouth blurred.
Noting CBS' explanation for his firing, Colbert said, 'how can it purely be a financial decision if the show is No. 1 in the ratings? It's confusing. A lot of folks are asking that question, mainly my staff's parents and spouses.'
With some apparent irritation, he said some news stories over the weekend reported the apparently leaked information that 'Late Show' was losing between $40 million and $50 million a year. Ad revenue for late-night entertainment broadcasts has shrunk sharply as the audience, particularly young men, turn to streaming or other priorities.
'I could see us losing $24 million,' Colbert said. 'But where would Paramount have ever spent the other $16 million? Oh, yeah.'
Colbert introduced the odd duo of 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda to sing Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida.' In a sly reference to the couple caught on camera last week at a Coldplay concert, 'Late Show' cameras panned the audience to find some supportive friends — fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and John Oliver, as well as Adam Sandler, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.
Thanking audience members for support
Colbert turned serious — briefly — to address people who had expressed support for him since the announcement was made.
'Some people see this show going away as the sign of something truly dire. And while I'm a big fan of me, I don't necessarily agree with that statement,' he said, "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.
'Or,' he continued, 'changing how you felt the next morning when you watched on your phone, which is why broadcast TV is dying.'
___
David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
3 people die in overnight Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia
Ukrainian drone attacks overnight into Saturday killed three people, Russian officials said Saturday. Russia's Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted or destroyed 112 drones across eight Russian regions and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed one person, acting governor Yuri Slyusar said. Further from the front line, a woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone strike on business premises in the Penza region, according to regional governor Oleg Melnichenko. In the Samara region, falling drone debris sparked a fire that killed an elderly resident, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 53 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said that air defenses shot down or jammed 45 drones. Eleven people were wounded in an overnight drone strike on the Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday. The reciprocal drone strikes followed a day of mourning in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday, after a Russian drone and missile attack killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded over 150. The continued attacks come after U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to make progress. Trump said Thursday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made. ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at The Associated Press
Associated Press
6 minutes ago
- Associated Press
3 people die in overnight Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia
Ukrainian drone attacks overnight into Saturday killed three people, Russian officials said Saturday. Russia's Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted or destroyed 112 drones across eight Russian regions and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed one person, acting governor Yuri Slyusar said. Further from the front line, a woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone strike on business premises in the Penza region, according to regional governor Oleg Melnichenko. In the Samara region, falling drone debris sparked a fire that killed an elderly resident, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 53 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said that air defenses shot down or jammed 45 drones. Eleven people were wounded in an overnight drone strike on the Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday. The reciprocal drone strikes followed a day of mourning in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday, after a Russian drone and missile attack killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded over 150. The continued attacks come after U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to make progress. Trump said Thursday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made. ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at
Boston Globe
35 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
I didn't want to need free groceries
So I share Kidder's lament that feeding the hungry is on track to be a growth industry in Donald Trump's America. The Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Experience first. Before 2009, as the son of a judge and the privileged middle class, I'd never been unemployed and in need of charity in three decades of working. I loved what I did, even though freelance writing is a constant scramble for income. I've always read a book before bed; as a freelancer, I chose only books for which I was earning a reviewer's paycheck. Advertisement When the recession and its double-digit unemployment hit, the 'subprime mortgages,' 'mortgage-backed securities,' and unregulated 'shadow banks' that underlay them — and that many Americans had never heard of — unleashed work-killing forces too devastating for individual initiative to counter. Even wealthy Harvard scrapped a lucrative project (by my bank account's standards) that I'd done for four straight summers. My then-wife's part-time job invaluably backstopped the family income. But after a year of little work and with no idea how long I'd be idle, I despaired of ever being employed again. Free groceries to stretch our household resources seemed the only responsible path, especially with a child to feed. Advertisement The other folks in St. Paul's basement made for an interesting cross-section of people. Some were fellow baby boomers. The age and dress of others suggested they were students, presumably not destitute but nevertheless on a budget as they contended with Greater Boston's formidable living costs. No one dressed in rags. (Neither did the recipients Kidder observed, which he attributes to their efforts 'to ward off disgrace' from having to seek charity.) My anxious heart beat fast during my first time at the pantry. Normally a chatterbox, I made little small talk with others. It took a number of weeks before the habitual visits and the saintly volunteers' freedom from judgment thawed some of my embarrassment. I also found psychic balm in the relief of free food for my household's budget. Not everyone adjusted as easily. At least one person at the pantry teared up at having to seek aid in public. I never saw her return. Advertisement The volunteers who set out and distributed food never questioned who we were or why we were there. Hard hearts will call that poor quality control. Those who know better, who relied on the kindness of these strangers, recognize it as mindfulness of recipients' dignity. Today, those who do such work can't fully backfill the Beautiful Bill's shrinkage of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps). Kidder notes that the national food bank network Feeding America says SNAP supplied nine times as much food as its own agency's food banks do. That the bill's backers had not just food support but the broader safety net in their sights is clear from the legislation's attaching work requirements to Medicaid. Two years ago, perhaps anticipating this dark American moment, Republican Representative Steve Scalise Yet do work. Work requirements Perhaps if our leaders saw who goes to food pantries and why — perhaps if they spent a week or two living as pantry patrons — the mythic myopia would lift from their eyes. But there are none so blind as those who will not see. Advertisement
