Latest news with #politicalmotivation
Fox News
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
'The View' host Sunny Hostin claims CBS canceling Colbert threatens democracy
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin feared that CBS's decision to cancel Stephen Colbert's show could threaten First Amendment rights if it was politically motivated.
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Elizabeth Warren floats shadowy conspiracy about sudden Colbert cancelation
Senator Elizabeth Warren is questioning whether CBS's decision to cancel 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ' was a politically motivated one. The Massachusetts Democrat took to X to float the idea that the move was likely linked to Paramount Global's merger with Skydance Media on Thursday. The deal requires regulatory approval from the Trump administration. Colbert, 61, is one the most prominent of critics of the conservative, even amongst a crowded field of left-leaning late night hosts. Colbert, in fact, is at the top of that heap ratings-wise. He also took a swipe at his Paramount bosses on-air for accepting what he presented as a 'big fat bribe' from the president Monday. The parties reached a $16 million settlement in a suit filed by Trump earlier this month. That is only slightly more than the $15 million Colbert is said to earn annually for his show. The suit had accused Paramount, CBS, and its flagship show 60 Minutes of deceptively editing an interview with Kamala Harris weeks before the election. The decision to make a deal was widely seen as necessary to receiving FCC approval. Warren, 76, wrote: 'CBS canceled Colbert's show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery. 'America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.' Warren, 76, wrote: 'CBS canceled Colbert's show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery,' adding, 'America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons' In another post, Warren appeared to accuse Trump of 'what looks like corruption in plain sight,' rattling off a list of companies he's squeezed settlements out of via what some have criticized as baseless, weaponized lawsuits. 'Paramount/CBS: $16 MILLION; Meta: $22 MILLION; Disney/ABC: $15 MILLION; X: $10 MILLION,' Warren wrote, also bringing up up the $400million luxury jet gifted to Trump earlier this year. 'Other special interests: unknown MILLIONS; Total: Roughly half a BILLION dollars,' she continued. The post was published prior to the announcement revealing Colbert's show will soon be cancelled. Colbert - the successor to late night legend David Letterman - delivered the news on-air as well, three days after taking C-Suiters to task for their settlement with the president. 'Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending The Late Show in May,' he told his Thursday audience. 'It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of the Late Show on CBS. 'I'm not being replaced, this is all just going away,' he continued. In another post, Warren appeared to accuse Trump of 'corruption in plain sight,' rattling off a list of companies - such as Paramount and Disney - that he's received settlements from in what some have criticized as baseless, weaponized lawsuits As the studio booed, Colbert said: 'Yeah, I share your feelings.' The show will air its last episode in May 2026. On Monday, the comic wasted no time after returning from a week's vacation to call CBS's parent company out. 'While I was on vacation, my parent corporation Paramount paid Donald Trump a $16 million settlement over his 60 Minutes lawsuit,' he said, before laying out the saga. 'As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I'm offended. 'I don't know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company. But just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help,' he joked. Colbert then explained how many legal experts, including Paramount's own legal team, had said the lawsuit was 'completely without merit.' 'And keep in mind, Paramount produced Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - they know "completely without merit,"' Colbert quipped. He brought up how, 'unlike the payoffs from ABC and Twitter, Paramount's settlement did not include an apology. 'That's good. Instead, the corporation released a statement where they said, "You may take our money, but you will never take our dignity,"' Colbert continued. '"You may, however, purchase our dignity for the low, low price of $16 million. We need the cash." 'I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: It's big fat bribe. 'Because this all comes as Paramount's owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance,' he added. Colbert then aired a similar theory to the one later presented by Morgan, before even knowing his show's fate. 'And some of the TV typers out there are blogging that once Skydance gets CBS, the new owner's desire to please Trump could "put pressure on late night host and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert."' 'Okay, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert if they can't find him?', he added, motioning to a false moustache he had donned. Colbert currently holds the top spot in his hour, with an average of 2.417 million across 41 first-run episodes. The Late Show was the only late night program to show an increase over the first quarter, according to new Nielsen numbers released this week, with the show up 1 percent. Second-best Jimmy Kimmel Live! takes in an average of 1.772 million viewers, by comparison. Colbert took over as host in September 2015, after Letterman launched the program in 1993.
Fox News
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Schiff, Warren demand to know if CBS is ending Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' for 'political reasons'
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the public "deserves to know" whether CBS's decision to cancel "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on Thursday was politically motivated. "Just finished taping with Stephen Colbert who announced his show was cancelled. If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better," Schiff wrote. Warren added, "CBS canceled Colbert's show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery. America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons. Watch and share his message." CBS said in a statement that the long-running late-night show will end in May 2026, but it was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night," adding, "It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount." There had been speculation about the future of the Paramount-owned late-night programs, which also includes "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, as its planned corporate merger with Skydance Media is expected to take place later this year. Colbert was outspoken against the settlement, calling it a "big fat bribe." He joked about being pressured by studio heads earlier this week. "Some of the TV typers out there are blogging that once Skydance gets CBS, the new owners' desire to please Trump will 'put pressure on late-night host and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert,'" Colbert joked. "OK, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert… if they can't find him?" Several journalists and commentators have also speculated that CBS and Paramount's recent lawsuit settlement with President Donald Trump earlier this month could create a "slippery slope" for news broadcasters. Trump sued for "election interference" over a "60 Minutes" interview edit of his 2024 opponent Kamala Harris, and Paramount was lambasted for settling the suit that its lawyers had called baseless. "The Late Show," which Colbert took over from David Letterman in 2015, leaned into liberal politics in the Trump era and had became a major platform for Democratic politicians. Last month, Colbert welcomed New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani before the socialist hopeful clinched the Democratic nomination. "The Late Show" first began airing with Letterman in 1993. Fox News Digital reached out to Schiff and Warren for comment.
The Sun
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Tory councillor's wife jailed for racist Southport tweet is being ‘mistreated' in prison, Reform's Richard Tice claims
THE wife of a Tory councillor who was jailed for making racist tweets in the aftermath of the Southport murders is being "mistreated" in prison, it is claimed. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice says Lucy Connolly has been handcuffed and stripped of her privileges by prison officers. 2 2 Connolly posted comments on her X account just hours after teenager Axel Rudakubana murdered three girls in the Merseyside town on July 29 last year. He alleges Connolly - married to Tory Raymond Connolly - is being "manhandled without provocation" after visiting her today at HMP Peterborough. Mr Tice told reporters: "Five days after the incident, the bruises on her wrists are still significant – yellow. It was obviously horrible what she went through. "On Thursday, she was manhandled, mistreated with no provocation. She was denied enhanced accommodation to which she was entitled and they gave her, frankly, the Nutters Wild Wing – druggies, violence. "You have to think it's politically motivated. I think the next few weeks before her release are going to be very challenging, worrying. "I think it would suit the authorities to want to provoke a violent reaction from Lucy. I told Lucy to be very careful." He went on to say he met with HMP Peterborough's head of security, explaining: "He is looking at the complaint seriously. When we get the result of that complaint – if they have 'lost' the bodycam footage or any of that funny business then I will escalate the complaint and meet the Governor. Mr Tice added: "I genuinely fear that she is actually being treated as a political prisoner for political purposes." 41-year-old childminder Connolly wrote: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care... "If that makes me racist, so be it." She was jailed for 31 months in October after admitting publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred. Connolly launched a bid against her "harsh" sentence but this was thrown out by Court of Appeal judges in May.
