Stephen Colbert‘s final hurrah on CBS has been set in motion.
The late night kingpin reportedly broke the news during Monday’s taping of “Late Night With Seth Meyers” that the long-running “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will air its series finale on May 21.
The official word comes six months after Colbert revealed that CBS’ parent company Paramount Global decided to pull the plug on the late-night TV staple after more than three decades at New York City’s Ed Sullivan Theater.
The announcement came days after the 10-time Emmy winner criticized a $16 million settlement between President Trump and Paramount Global over the editing of a “60 Minutes” news piece. He referred to the payment as a “big fat bribe” in his opening monologue.
“Next year will be our last season,” he said when sharing the news of the show’s shuttering. “It’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”
Meanwhile, the embattled network claimed the cancellation of “The Late Show” was merely a financial move.
“We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘The Late Show’ franchise in May of 2026,” the company said in a statement. “We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television. This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Days after the cancellation was made public, the Federal Communications Commission approved the $8.4 billion sale of Paramount to Skydance Media.
