Overview
- Colbert delivered the quip during a video appearance on CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast with Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper from his New Jersey home.
- CBS says retiring The Late Show was a business move, citing roughly $40 million in annual losses despite the program leading its time slot.
- Industry figures have questioned the financial rationale, noting the timing alongside Paramount’s Skydance deal that elevated David Ellison and fueling talk of political pressures.
- Colbert has previously criticized Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump and has framed his experience as a lesson about billionaire influence.
- In December, he joked that if Paramount could reportedly mount a $108 billion bid for Warner Bros., it could afford to reverse the Late Show cancellation.