Stephen Colbert cancellation: John Stewart rages at Donald Trump, CBS, Paramount as fallout escalates

Jon Stewart was not having it. The presenter was raging as the fallout from the Stephen Colbert cancellation escalated in the US media world.

Stewart last night used his weekly appearance on The Daily Show, which is owned by the same parent company, Paramount, that took the axe to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert late last week, to verbally eviscerate the media company.

CBS, the network that will broadcast The Late Show until May, emphasised last week that the decision was “purely a financial” one but the timing and overall political landscape led to speculation that Colbert had been sacrificed on the altar of the Paramount-Skydance merger.

Paramount is to be sold to production business Skydance in a deal worth $US8 billion, but it needs to be approved by the US Federal Communications Commission, which is now controlled by Donald Trump after he returned to the presidency six months ago.

Stewart was among the sceptics as he laid into CBS and Paramount.

“Was it purely financial or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger?” Stewart railed.

“Or was it killing a show that you know rankled a fragile and vengeful president, so insecure, suffering terribly from a case of chronic penis insufficiency, truly, it’s a vicious disease, I believe CBS lost the benefit of the doubt when two weeks prior, when they sold out their flagship news program to pay an extortion fee to said president.”

Stewart added, “Shows that say something, shows that take a stand, shows that are unafraid – this is not a ‘We speak truth to power’. We don’t. We speak opinions to television cameras. But we try, we f..king try, every night.

“And if you believe, as corporations or as network, you can make yourself so innocuous that you can serve a gruel so flavourless that you will never again be on the boy king’s radar, a) why will anyone watch you? And, you are f..king wrong.”

Earlier this month, CBS settled a $US16 million lawsuit Mr Trump brought against the network’s 60 Minutes program, alleging that a 2024 interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, was favourable to his election component.

The same week Colbert’s program was cancelled, he had on his show called CBS’s pay-out to Mr Trump “a big fat bribe”.

Colbert himself again addressed the situation on his program this week, joking that “cancel culture has gone too far”. He also responded to Mr Trump’s social media gloating – “I absolutely love” - about Colbert getting the sack.

“How dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go f—k yourself.”

Colbert promised he will be unleashed for the next 10 months.

The Late Show’s demise has prompted an outpouring of outrage. Other late night hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers have all supported Colbert. Fallon, Meyers, Stewart, Oliver , broadcaster Anderson Cooper and Bravo host Andy Cohen all made surprise cameos on Colbert’s show during a bit involving Lin Manuel Miranda and Weird Al Yankovich covering a Coldplay song.

Mr Trump also tried to goad Kimmel and Fallon, predicting they would be cancelled next.

Protesters have gathered outside the historic Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City, where The Late Show is filmed with signs that read, “Colbert Stays! Trump Must Go!”, while the Writers Guild of America called for an investigation into whether CBS’s decision to cancel The Late Show constitutes a bribe to the Trump Administration in the merger process.

Even David Letterman got in on the action. Letterman launched The Late Show in 1993 and hosted for 22 years before he handed the baton over to Colbert. He didn’t directly comment on the furore but there’s little mistaking whose side he’s on.

On his official YouTube channel, Letterman uploaded a 20-minute supercut of various times when he roasted CBS while he was still hosting The Late Show, and captioned it with “You can’t spell CBS without BS”.

Commentators including entertainment business journalist Matt Belloni have said that it’s difficult to confirm how much politics played into the axing given CBS sources claimed it was losing an estimated $US40 million a year producing The Late Show. But the timing certainly smells whiffy.

It also doesn’t help when Mr Trump himself claimed that the incoming new owners of Paramount will give him $US20 million worth of “advertising, (public service announcements) or similar programming”, boasting that the overall settlement with CBS and 60 Minutes totalled “over $36 million”.