Elizabeth Warren Calls BS on Colbert Firing After Trump ‘Bribe’ From Paramount
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called BS on the firing of Stephen Colbert after he called the settlement with President Donald Trump “a big fat bribe,” casting doubt on the reason for the host’s ouster.
Fifteen days after Paramount announced that they would pay Trump $16 million to settle what most experts consider to be a meritless lawsuit over a 2024 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, CBS announced the end of The Late Show.
That announcement also came just three days after Colbert nuked the company over the deal on air, calling it a “big fat bribe.”
Warren was a guest on an episode of The Jim Acosta Show, during which she agreed with the “bribe” assessment and torpedoed CBS’s claim that the firing was strictly a “financial” decision:
JIM ACOSTA: The firing of Stephen Colbert, the host of The Late Show, which I just think is just an awful thing to take place. They claimed it wasn’t content-based. I don’t think anybody really in America believes that. I don’t know if they believe it. I think they just had to say it.
But what have been your thoughts in this, since this came down? Because it came on the heels of that awful settlement with Trump over 60 Minutes, which should have never happened.
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Yeah. So I think these pieces actually all fit together, including the Epstein files. And here’s what I see going on.
First, over on these settlements, it’s just plain old corruption. I mean, hello, capital C corruption. It appears like a bribe right out in public.
So, as you know, here’s Paramount, and Paramount’s saying we really, really, really want to do this $8 billion deal. And that’s basically up to Donald Trump, Trump administration, right? He, he put, he’s like the, the, you know, the emperor here, he puts the thumb up or he puts the thumb down.
So they really, really, really want to do this business deal. And meanwhile, here is this pending bogus lawsuit, uh, it is described as meritless, uh, by CBS itself. CBS owned by Paramount, and by other legal scholars.
And they say, how about if we settle it for $16 million and put the money into your future presidential library? Just slush fund, right? Just put the money out there and do your slush fun. And here’s the thing.
JIM ACOSTA: Maybe they’ll have the Epstein files at the library. But anyway, I’m sorry. Yeah.
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Yeah, exactly, exactly. Exactly. So put it into your, into your slush fund. Where there’ll be no accountability, how the money gets used, whether or not you use the money yourself, whatever happens from that.
Not only does that happen, it turns out that Skydance, right, which is the merging party with Paramount, Donald Trump announces that he’s getting an extra $20 million in free advertising from Skydence.
So Donald Trump is really touting this deal that he is handing out a personal favor, like he sold his own baseball trading card.
No, I’m sorry. Approval of a merger, this is what belongs to the United States, right? He’s touting it as if he has cut this fabulous deal.
And then Stephen Colbert calls it a big fat bribe and boom, the hatchet comes down three days later.
Now I get it. There are those who say no, no, it was all on financial reasons. But those circumstances smell pretty fishy.
Plus, Donald Trump says himself the day after Colbert gets fired. “I hope I was the reason that he gets fired.”.
And he’s hoping another late night host gets fired.
Watch above via The Jim Acosta Show.