CBS cancels Colbert days after he criticized the Paramount settlement, amid a pending merger

Editor's note: a congressional letter and reporting document the timing of the cancellation against a pending federal merger review, but no court or official finding establishes that governmental power was used to bring it about.

In the months leading up to CBS's decision, 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned in April 2025 after what he and colleagues described as Paramount executives interfering with the show's editorial content and pressuring him to change how it covered the president; CBS News president Wendy McMahon resigned shortly after under similar circumstances. Skydance CEO David Ellison met with FCC Chairman Carr shortly before CBS's cancellation decision.

On July 2, 2025, Paramount announced it would pay $16 million toward Trump's presidential library to settle his lawsuit over 60 Minutes' editing of a Kamala Harris interview, a claim media law experts broadly expected CBS to win, since an independent FCC review found the network's two airings had simply cut different portions of the same 21-second answer, not altered its substance. Press reporting at the time indicated Paramount board members were aware that settling the suit in exchange for merger approval could meet a legal definition of bribery.

On July 18, 2025, just days after Stephen Colbert criticized the settlement on air, calling it 'a big fat bribe', CBS canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the highest-rated show in its late-night time slot, officially citing financial reasons. Chairman Carr, asked directly, would not say whether he was personally responsible for the cancellation. The FCC approved the Paramount-Skydance merger shortly afterward.