Overview
- Kennedy, appearing on Fox News’ The Will Cain Show on Wednesday, mocked Barack Obama’s sit-down with Stephen Colbert by saying the pair “ought to get a motel room” and derided Colbert as “shallow as a puddle.”
- Obama’s conversation with Colbert, taped at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago and aired Tuesday, urged a return to basic norms and warned against using the Justice Department to target political rivals, a veiled critique of President Donald Trump.
- CBS said in 2025 it would end The Late Show for financial reasons, while Kennedy claimed Colbert was costing the network $40 million a year and said he was effectively fired.
- Colbert has questioned whether politics factored into the cancellation by pointing to Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with Trump, even as he noted the broader slump in the traditional TV business.
- The show is set to end in mid-May, with Mediaite and HuffPost reporting a May 21 finale and Fox News listing May 16, a split that mirrors competing narratives around the show’s performance and legacy.