Deadline reports that Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report, The Daily Show) will retire his late-night jersey as CBS moves to end the decade-long late-night instalment, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Here is the statement made by CBS: “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season. We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time. 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.”

The Late Show was launched in 1993 and was originally hosted by the legendary David Letterman (The David Letterman Show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction). Its shuttering comes at a time when cable networks are dealing with a loss of viewership to streaming services, and while CBS is trying to close a merger with Skydance.

AP News announced earlier this week that Colbert and fellow comic and vocal President Trump critic Jon Stewart (Death to Smoochy, Half Baked) spoke quite frankly about their dissatisfaction with the recent deal that Paramount made with the President to settle a lawsuit regarding a ’60 Minutes’ interview with his then-rival and Presidential Candidate, Kamala Harris. According to AP, two top executives either allegedly quit or were forced out after also being vocal about their disapproval of the settlement within the company before it had even been made official.

AP reports that Colbert was quoted as saying this in reference to the settlement, “I am offended,” Colbert said in his monologue Monday night. “I don’t know if anything — anything—will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.” $16 million is the amount of money that was awarded to the President in the settlement. Although the money will not be directly paid to the President, instead it will go towards Trump’s future presidential library. It should also be mentioned that CBS did not have to issue an apology to the President for the alleged alteration of the interview in favor of his political rival. Stewart also chided in calling it a “shameful settlement.”

According to Deadline, CBS execs claim that the decision was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” They also say that it “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount.” Yet the AP News reported that speculation has been rampant, with multiple media outlets alleging that Skydance may be trying to grease the wheels to get the merger approved by the FCC, which is led by President Trump loyalist, Brendan Carr. They suggest removing comics on Trump’s naughty list is a way to accomplish this. Which might not be that far of a stretch given the fact that the President penned a Truth Social post in which he roasted Colbert as “a complete and total loser” and even went as far as to suggest that CBS is losing money on him because he is “VERY BORING.”

As per TV Insider, the other variable is the fact that the late-night scene has seen quite a shift. The year that Gutfeld! launched, it quickly dethroned The Late Show for total viewers and currently has almost a million more viewers. The Fox late-night conservative political satire might come on an hour earlier and have a slightly older audience, yet it’s up an impressive 35% from the same time last year. Raking in 3.289 million viewers, Greg Gutfeld (What Did I Miss?, Louie) and friends have a huge lead on Colbert’s partner in dissent, with Stewart’s The Daily Show only pulling in slightly under a million viewers. With the recent trend in vocal critics of the settlement becoming free agents, viewers of The Daily Show may begin to wonder if Stewart is next to enjoy a retirement Mai Tai.

Democratic Senator from California, Adam Schiff, took to social media to express his discontent with the retirement of The Late Show. He claims that if it were for political reasons, then CBS and Paramount should be more transparent, and that the public deserves better.

The New York Post reports that Schiff has also been the target of Trump’s social media assaults. He has accused Schiff of allegedly committing a pattern of mortgage fraud. He claims that the Senator claimed on his mortgage that his primary residence was in Maryland to get a better deal when it’s required to live in California to be a Senator for the state.

Deadline confirms that The Late Show will conclude the rest of the season and will end this spring.