Overview

• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won Outstanding Talk Series at the 2025 Emmys, the program’s first trophy in the category.
• Back on air Tuesday, Colbert displayed the statuette, thanked roughly 200 staff members and the audience, and joked that they “should have gotten canceled years ago.”
• He capped the monologue by noting that President Donald Trump “doesn’t have” an Emmy, after Trump publicly cheered CBS’s July decision to end the show in May 2026.
• Industry peers rallied around Colbert, with Jimmy Kimmel erecting a West Hollywood billboard reading “I’m voting for Stephen,” Jon Stewart sharing credit as a nominee and producer, and John Oliver joking a Kimmel win would have been funnier.
• CBS maintains the 2026 end is purely financial as commentators continue to question whether political pressure and corporate dealings, including a Trump settlement and the Skydance merger, played a role.