Jon Stewart slams CBS for decision to cancel ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert'
Jon Stewart pulled no punches Monday over CBS's cancellation of Stephen Colbert's late-night show.
During Monday night's broadcast of 'The Daily Show,' Stewart's first since Colbert on Thursday shared that 'The Late Show' would not return beyond May 2026, the late-night veteran lambasted CBS for canceling the program.
'The fact that CBS didn't try to save their No. 1 rated late-night franchise that's been on the air for over three decades is part of what's making everybody wonder … was this purely financial or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger,' Stewart said on his Comedy Central program.
Paramount Global — the parent of both CBS and Comedy Central — has been angling for regulatory approval for a merger with Skydance Media. Some critics last week connected the cancellation of Colbert's show, in which he's frequently taken aim at President Donald Trump, with the merger. CBS, for its part, cited financial reasons for discontinuing the show, stating that it was losing money in a challenging environment for late-night programming.
Stewart had harsh words for CBS and Paramount, using several expletives to punctuate his sentiments.
'If you believe as corporations or as networks (that) you can make yourselves so innocuous, that you can serve gruel so flavorless that you will never again' risk Trump's ire, 'you are f**king wrong.'
Stewart is the latest late-night host to denounce the network's cancellation of the 33-year-old show, just months ahead of his contract's December 2025 expiration. Just last week, Stewart said his team hasn't 'heard anything' from executives about whether his show will be renewed. Soon after Colbert broke the news of his show's conclusion, fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel slammed the move on Instagram.
'Love you Stephen,' Kimmel wrote on his Instagram story. 'F**k you (…) CBS.'
Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers also offered Colbert support. Taking to their respective Instagram Stories, Fallon wrote, 'I'm just as shocked as everyone,' while Meyers wrote, 'I'm going to miss having him on TV every night.' John Oliver, often viewed as the firebrand of late-night, told reporters on Saturday that the program's cancellation was 'terrible, terrible news for the world of comedy.'
Colbert, who has helmed 'The Late Show' since 2015, first announced his cancellation of during the show's taping last Thursday. CBS has chalked the show's demise to financial pressures. Late-night talk shows across the board are facing the harsh reality that declines in ad revenue can't make up for burgeoning production costs.
But Stewart on Monday waved off the idea that late-night comedy is a financial black hole.
'Look, I understand the corporate fear, I understand the fear that you and your advertisers have with $8 billion at stake,' he said on Monday. 'But understand this: The shows that you now seek to cancel, censor and control, a not-insignificant portion of that $8 billion value came from those … shows. That's what made that money.'
Critics have also noted that the program's cancellation comes after Paramount Global's settlement with President Trump. The CBS parent in early July agreed to pay the president $16 million to settle a lawsuit over a '60 Minutes' interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris — despite many legal experts considering it to be a legally dubious case.
The settlement raised concerns that the company was trying to gain the favor of the Federal Communications Commission, whose approval Paramount needs to merge with Skydance Media. Trump has also boasted of an additional $16-plus-million 'side deal' with Skydance's David Ellison, which will see CBS broadcast PSAs for causes important to Trump following the Paramount-Skydance merger.
Colbert has been critical of the settlement.
It's unsurprising that Stewart would offer such a fiery rebuke of CBS's move. The late-night comedian called Paramount's settlement 'shameful' in early July.
Colbert and Stewart have also been colleagues for three decades; Colbert started his late-night career as a correspondent for the Stewart-helmed 'Daily Show' in 1995 only to leave in 2005 to start 'The Colbert Report' at CBS. Colbert helmed the titular show until 2014, after which he headed to 'The Late Show.'
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But the public broadcaster's news coverage of the 'MAGA musician' has instead made Sean Feucht a much bigger celebrity in Canada Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox American musician Sean Feucht had been scheduled to perform in Moncton, N.B., on Thursday, July 24, 2025. Photo by Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA 2.0 CBC went on a religious war against a Christian singer this past week in an effort to cancel his concerts. Instead, CBC raised the profile of Sean Feucht in Canada and showed just how politicized their news coverage has become. It started several days ago as Canada's public broadcaster went wall to wall with coverage of Feucht's show in Halifax. They described him repeatedly as a 'MAGA musician' and then made it clear to their readers and viewers that Feucht holds views that no Canadian should welcome. 'Sean Feucht is a religious singer from the U.S. who has expressed anti-diversity, anti-2SLGBTQ+ and anti-women's rights views on his platforms,' read one story about his original venue in Halifax being cancelled. Other media outlets joined in the pile on, simply describing Feucht as MAGA and therefore unacceptable. We don't need to tell you more than that, we've already told you that he likes the bad Orange man in the White House – BAN HIM! This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account A protestor chants slogans against pro-Maga and Christian singer Sean Feucht during his performance at Ministerios Restauración in Montreal on Friday, July 25, 2025. Photo by Allen McInnis / MONTREAL GAZETTE The original venues for all six concerts cancelled on him – some reportedly keeping the fees he had already paid. Feucht may not be a household name in Canada, but he has played and toured here many times and he quickly found new venues. The media hype about the dangers of allowing a Christian rocker to perform here kept up and when he played Montreal on Friday night, radical protesters showed up to try and forcibly shut down the show. Montreal police arrest a protester who refused to stop eating on the stairs of Ministerios Restauración during pro-Maga and Christian singer Sean Feucht's performance in Montreal on Friday, July 25, 2025. Photo by Allen McInnis / MONTREAL GAZETTE CBC quoted a spokesperson for Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante saying they believe in freedom of expression but not for this guy. 'Freedom of expression is one of our fundamental values, but hateful and discriminatory speech is not accepted in Montreal and, as in other Canadian cities, the show will not be tolerated,' Catherine Cadotte told CBC . Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Mayor Valérie Plante at a press conference on the terrace at City Hall in Montreal on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Photo by John Mahoney / MONTREAL GAZETTE The mayor's office tried to shut down the show even after it moved from a municipal venue to a church – and the city is now threatening to fine that church. They claimed Feucht didn't have a permit to play and it wouldn't be allowed to go forward, a claim CBC dutifully put to the singer as he spoke with media ahead of the show. 'It's because you don't have a permit,' a CBC-Radio Canada journalist stated to Feucht on the issue of why some wanted his show shut down. 'I don't think you need a permit to worship in a church,' Feucht responded. Feucht, the American, has a better understanding of how our country operates than a CBC journalist, that is truly sad. If we lived in a country fully run by CBC and Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, then we would have to sign away freedom of religion, freedom of assembly and freedom expression – three fundamental freedoms protected by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Pro-Maga and Christian singer Sean Feucht speaks before his performance at Ministerios Restauración in Montreal on Friday, July 25, 2025. Photo by Allen McInnis / MONTREAL GAZETTE As you can see, there is a selective approach to who gets those rights and freedoms protected. There is a lot of chatter about what kind of musical acts are acceptable these days. Concerts for British punk rap duo Bob Vylan were cancelled after they shouted 'death, death to the IVF' at the Glastonbury music festival. Irish rap group Kneecap are slated to perform four sold-out shows in Toronto and Vancouver later this year but there are calls for them to be banned from Canada for their open support of banned terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Read More This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. When CBC did a story on protests against Kneecap, they spoke with the Centre for Free Expression about how problematic it is to ban musical acts. That's something they only did in Feucht's case after days of broadcast and online print stories whipping up the Canadian public about the MAGA invasion. I'd never heard of Sean Feucht before this past week and CBC 's decision to join a Holy War to shut him down. They may have gotten the venues to deny him entry, but they also made him a much bigger celebrity in Canada than he would have been otherwise. CBC also showed that while they claim to stand up for Canadian values, they don't mean the ones in the Charter, they mean the left-wing political values they push every single day. blilley@ Columnists Toronto & GTA Columnists Sunshine Girls Columnists