CNN’s Jake Tapper tried desperately on The Lead on Friday to connect the news that CBS has cancelled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with parent company Paramount’s legal drama with President Trump. Tapper admitted he had no evidence for this but still found the whole thing to be “interesting” and promoted anonymous sources to help him advance his conspiracy theory.
During his monologue, Tapper recalled an interview Colbert gave with PBS where he called Trump “boring,” which led to Trump calling for Colbert to be fired. After a clip, Tapper observed, “And here we are ten months later, Colbert has been canceled, and PBS is losing its federal funding. Interesting.”
Not really, but because Trump reacted gleefully to the news, Tapper continued, “And in case you wondered how the president took the news about Colbert, he posted on Truth Social, quote, ‘I absolutely love that Colbert got fired.’ He's still not satisfied, though. ‘I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.’ That's what President Trump said.”
Trump’s comments aside, Colbert was not fired. His contract is expiring, and CBS decided re-upping a show that loses $40 mil lion a year wasn’t worth it. Additionally, people like Tapper will surely be keeping a close eye on ABC and Disney now to see what they do with Kimmel after such Truth Social posts, but Kimmel himself has spent the last couple of years openly speculating that he will not renew his contract next year and retire.
Nevertheless, Tapper had his anonymous sources to cite, “One former CBS executive told me of this news, quote, ‘The timing seems so obvious and keeping with Paramount's quid pro quo theme. If it were just financial, why announce this now? Why not let RedBird announce it post-transaction and FCC blessing? Seems like a further tribute to me. Shameful.’”
Do Tapper and his anonymous sources really believe that waiting until the merger was approved would’ve squashed the allegations that Paramount and Trump made some sort of deal?
Tapper has no evidence, other than one nameless person’s opinion, that politics had anything to do with The Late Show’s demise, but he still added, “It is stunning what is being done by men and women who should know better, who do know better in boardrooms and on Capitol Hill, because the most powerful man in the world, a man who has achieved way beyond his wildest life’s dreams, seems shockingly pervious to criticism.”
He then admitted he had no evidence for any of this but still accused Paramount of letting Trump think he had something to do with it, “Now, we may never know if CBS ending the Colbert Show was part of some secret deal cut between Paramount and Trump, or if it was just a freebie Paramount threw in, or if it was entirely unrelated and actually because of financial reasons, but Paramount is happy to let Trump think it is in the name of pleasing him.”
That’s just not true. CBS’s statement explicitly said the decision had nothing to do with Colbert’s liberalism or other business involving Paramount.
Tapper, however, further added, “The fact that so much of corporate America is dedicated to fearing these presidential whims that could result in actual retribution should concern all of us because trends like this don't stop with one president. They start with them. And the First Amendment protecting the free speech rights of comedians and journalists when they joke or cover powerful people, an amendment that our corporate masters will not fight for, that's ultimately just words on parchment.”
As the segment would go on, Tapper would welcome former New York Times media reporter and current LateNighter writer Bill Carter to further cast doubt on CBS’s decision. According to Carter, because CBS was willing to renew After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson before she quit, it shows that the decision to cancel The Late Show is “very suspicious timing, extremely suspicious.”
The problem with that is that After Midnight only existed in the first place because it was cheaper than continuing with The Late Late Show. Trump or no Trump, in the age of specialized entertainment journalism, streaming, and podcasts, it makes little economic sense to have a comedy show with a multi-million-dollar host, band, and celebrity interviews at 11:30 p.m. or 12:30 a.m. that only appeals to one side of the political divide.
Here is a transcript for the July 18 show:
CNN The Lead with Jake Tapper
7/18/2025
6:41 PM ET
JAKE TAPPER: And here we are ten months later, Colbert has been canceled, and PBS is losing its federal funding. Interesting.
And in case you wondered how the president took the news about Colbert, he posted on Truth Social, quote, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired.” He's still not satisfied, though. “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.” That's what President Trump said.
One former CBS executive told me of this news, quote, “The timing seems so obvious and keeping with Paramount's quid pro quo theme. If it were just financial, why announce this now? Why not let RedBird announce it post-transaction and FCC blessing? Seems like a further tribute to me. Shameful.”
It is stunning what is being done by men and women who should know better, who do know better in boardrooms and on Capitol Hill, because the most powerful man in the world, a man who has achieved way beyond his wildest life’s dreams, seems shockingly pervious to criticism.
Now, we may never know if CBS ending the Colbert Show was part of some secret deal cut between Paramount and Trump, or if it was just a freebie Paramount threw in, or if it was entirely unrelated and actually because of financial reasons, but Paramount is happy to let Trump think it is in the name of pleasing him.
The fact that so much of corporate America is dedicated to fearing these presidential whims that could result in actual retribution should concern all of us because trends like this don't stop with one president. They start with them. And the First Amendment protecting the free speech rights of comedians and journalists when they joke or cover powerful people, an amendment that our corporate masters will not fight for, that's ultimately just words on parchment.
