Overview
- Letterman, in a New York Times interview published Tuesday, accused CBS owners of cutting Stephen Colbert to smooth a sale to Skydance and called them “lying weasels.”
- CBS has repeated that retiring The Late Show was purely a financial move in a tougher late-night market and not tied to content, performance, or other Paramount matters.
- Critics have linked the timing to Paramount’s $16 million settlement with Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes dispute and to regulatory pressure as the Skydance deal awaited FCC sign-off.
- The Late Show ends Thursday, May 21, and CBS will plug the 11:35 p.m. slot with Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed starting Friday, May 22, with Allen selling the ads for the show.
- In the closing stretch, Barack Obama appeared Tuesday to thank Colbert and joke about talk of a political run, underscoring the show’s high-profile send-off.