Stephen Colbert Savages CBS for Late Show ‘Financial Losses’ Spin: ‘Where Would Paramount Have Possibly Spent the Other $16M?’
The Late Show host Stephen Colbert savaged CBS parent company Paramount’s attempt to spin the cancellation of his show as due to financial losses with a pointed hint that those company expenses could be related to the settlement with President Donald Trump.
Colbert announced the abrupt cancellation of The Late Show on Thursday, just days after he publicly slammed CBS for its $16 million settlement with Trump, a deal he derided on-air as a “big fat bribe.”
In the days that followed, after widespread viewer outrage, CBS argued the decision was purely financial.
On Monday night’s show, with an audience full of late-night television stars there to show support, Colbert took aim at his network in a scathing opening monologue:
People have been speculating about the timing of this decision from Paramount and they’re pointing out that last Monday, just two days before my cancellation, I delivered a blistering monologue in which I showed the courage to have a mustache. I mean obviously CBS saw my upper lip and boom cancelled. Coincidence? Oh, I think not. This is worse than fascism. This is stashism.
He continued, jibing that the network had no regard for the cultural history of the studio and show, mockingly joking that the location would be converted into the “Historic Ed Sullivan Self Storage.”
“Put your old records where the Beatles performed,” he joked, in mock advertisement.
The host wasn’t done, however, and rounding on the network made clear that the financial concerns of CBS were tied directly to its settlement payment:
CBS, our network CBS, who I want to reiterate have always been great partners, put out a statement saying very, you know, very nice things about me and about the show. And, uh, thank you to them for that. They clarified that the cancellation was “purely a financial decision.” But how could it purely be a financial decision if The Late Show is number one in ratings? A lot of folks [applause]… yeah, you know, it’s confusing.
A lot of folks are asking that question, mainly my staff’s parents and spouses. Well, over the weekend, somebody at CBS followed up their gracious press release with a gracious anonymous leak, saying they pulled the plug on our show because of losses pegged between $40 million and $50 million a year. $40 million is a big number.
I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million? Oh, yeah –
Still, that’s still a lot of money. I mean, where does the Late Show rank, Jim? What other companies lost that kind of money last year? Red Lobster? Damn it! I told them we should stop offering the audience unlimited shrimp.
So, with those numbers, I got to say it makes sense we’d be cancelled. I get it, guys. And thanks again.
Watch above via CBS.
