CBS Host Blames ‘One-Sided’ Colbert for His Firing in Tense Debate On Network’s Drama
CBS Morning’s Tony Dokoupil broke with his co-hosts Wednesday to blame network colleague Stephen Colbert’s “one-sided” commentary for his own cancellation while torching Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s claims that Paramount’s decision to drop The Late Show was influenced by “corporate fear.”
The cancellation of The Late Show came just a week after the network made headlines for its $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over a 2024 60 Minutes interview – a closure to the case that Colbert had criticized as a “big fat bribe” on his show just days before.
That settlement also comes at the same time parent company Paramount Global is seeking approval from the FCC for a merger with Skydance Media, valued at $8 billion.
In the days that followed, amid backlash, CBS argued the decision was purely financial but late night show hosts from other networks rounded the wagons to defend Colbert and reject that position, implying instead that the cancellation was a business motivated appeasement.
On Wednesday’s edition of CBS Mornings co-host Vladimir Duthiers spotlighted points made in Stewart’s second consecutive night using his monologue to defend The Late Show, accusing Paramount of feeling its merger was threatened by Colbert’s work and protesting that “a not insignificant portion of that $8 billion value came from those fucking shows.”
After the clips of Stewart rolled, Duthiers lamented that despite the “financials” and “reality of where linear television is” he was a fan and hated to see the shows go.
“I know they’re expensive to produce, but they are part of the cultural zeitgeist and they have been part of television since that since the beginning of television, he said. “So that’s why people are reacting the way that they are.”
After an audible sigh, Dokoupil cut in to reject Stewart’s notion that The Late Show represented a significant part of the merger valuation: “No, I understand the emotional views. I don’t have an MBA but he’s not right that the merger, the $8 billion, is based on reruns of a comedy show, no. People are buying the movies and the sitcoms and the sports. They’re not based on reruns of us either, so I think it’s wrong.”
Co-host Gayle King interjected, defending Stewart’s claim that The Late Show “contributed to” the merger valuation.
“He’s saying it’s all encompassing, the whole package,” Duthiers agreed.
Dokoupil, however, doubled down: “Oh, that already happened in the past and he also acknowledged that these late-night shows are what he called like a Blockbuster kiosk inside a Tower Record – so the business is broken.”
He continued, rounding pointedly on Colbert’s commentary as “one-sided”: “And what no one seems to acknowledge is that the politics also changed. The business changed and so did the politics. And it got way more one-sided than anything Johnny Carson was ever doing. I think we should reflect on those changes as well. It’s been a big shift culturally in that regard, also for sure.”
Disregarding the point, King jumped in to say that she felt for Colbert and that the moment was “very difficult.”
“I feel for the whole staff of both those shows, and whatever comes next for everybody,” Dokoupil said.
“But if you haven’t seen Jon Stewart’s monologue, it’s worth it,” she added.
Watch above via CBS.
