Stephen Colbert Absolutely Nukes CBS’s Parent Company for Giving Trump a ‘Big Fat Bribe’
Late night host Stephen Colbert trashed his employer’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump on Monday, calling it a “big fat bribe.”
CBS parent company Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to Trump earlier this month to settle a lawsuit pertaining to a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris during her 2024 presidential campaign.
Colbert ripped into Paramount on Monday as he returned to The Late Show after a vacation.
“As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended. And 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. This settlement is for a nuisance lawsuit Trump filed claiming that 60 Minutes deceptively edited their interview with then-candidate Kamala Harris last fall,” he said. “Paramount knows they could have easily fought it because, in their own words, the lawsuit was completely without merit. And keep in mind, Paramount produced Transformers Rise of the Beasts. They know completely without merits.”
Trump accused the company of deceptively editing a teaser for a Harris interview that showed her in a more positive light. The network pushed back on this and Paramount admitted no fault in the case. They said the $16 million will be going to “Mr. Trump’s legal fees and costs and that the money,” as well as the president’s presidential library.
Colbert argued the entire settlement can be tied to Paramount’s pending merger with Skydance.
He said:
Unlike the payoffs from ABC and Twitter, Paramount’s settlement did not include an apology. Instead — that’s good —instead, the corporation released a statement where they said, ‘You may take our money, but you will never take our dignity. You may, however, purchase our dignity for the low, low price of $16 million. We need the cash.’ I believe… Now, I believe that this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles. It’s big fat bride. 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!
Watch above via CBS.
