Stephen Colbert Jokes CBS’s $16M Trump Settlement Was a Bargain in Jab at Bosses: ‘Peace Has a Price!’

Stephen Colbert hit his network bosses at CBS with a pointed reminder of their $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump, quipping that the payment to get on the president’s good side was nothing compared to the Board of Peace’s $1 billion fee.

The Late Show host was riffing on Trump’s newly launched Board of Peace for Gaza, when he pivoted from mocking the proposal to detonating a joke aimed squarely at CBS executives.

The host began: “Trump’s next mission in Davos was debuting a new international club that he calls the Board of Peace, where nations can pay $1 billion for a permanent seat. No surprise that peace has a price.”

“Right now, it’s unclear where the funds collected from the Board of Peace members would be held. My guess is Trump’s personal piggy bank, the Canklebankle. According to the charter, the board will have one man in charge,” he continued. “And I’ll give you a hint. He’s in the diaper.”

After he mocked the initiative as Trump “literally just doing model UN,” the host pivoted to his own bosses with an uncomfortable reminder.

“Now, admittedly, the idea of paying a billion dollars to obey Donald Trump seems a little steep, after all, CBS got to do it for just $16 million,” Colbert cracked to laughter from the audience.

Colbert didn’t need to spell out the reference to his audience, but in July, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, paid out the hefty settlement over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.

The payment came at a politically sensitive moment, as Paramount sought Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for a major merger with Skydance.

Soon after the settlement, CBS announced it was canceling The Late Show on July 18, arguing that the move was for financial reasons. Trump had been publicly demanding Colbert’s cancellation for months.

The FCC approved the merger on July 24.

Watch above via CBS.

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