{"id":60972,"date":"2025-08-11T08:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T08:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/60972\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T08:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T08:06:07","slug":"jon-batiste-hints-at-stephen-colberts-next-move-he-wont-be-silenced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/60972\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Batiste Hints at Stephen Colbert\u2019s Next Move: \u2018He Won\u2019t Be Silenced\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acclaimed musician Jon Batiste has addressed the axing of Stephen Colbert\u2019s talk show\u2014and hinted at his friend\u2019s next move.<\/p>\n

Batiste, a Grammy and Oscar winner himself, was bandleader<\/a> and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from its beginning in 2015 until 2022.<\/p>\n

Last month, CBS announced the show will wind up in May 2026. The news came just days after Colbert had called out CBS\u2019 parent company, Paramount, for a \u201cbig fat bribe\u201d<\/a> after it paid Donald Trump $16 million to facilitate an $8 billion merger with Skydance.<\/p>\n

\"NEWJon Batiste has spoken up for his friend and former boss Stephen Colbert. CBS Photo Archive\/CBS via Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to my friend Stephen is a symptom of big money,\u201d Batiste told Rolling Stone Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very grateful to him and I think where he goes next, his voice won\u2019t be silenced. The voice of free speech is challenge, but the soul of an individual cannot be cancelled. He\u2019s gonna find another megaphone, another outlet, I\u2019m sure of it. I\u2019m rooting for him,\u201d Batiste added of Colbert\u2019s next move.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a time where the right price can silence the voice of free speech, which we should be very, very conscious of. As artists, we have to constantly fight for free speech and fight for the ability to be able to share the authentic truth of our being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batiste, who won a Grammy Album of the Year award for We Are in 2021 and an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe for his score of the Disney-Pixar film Soul in 2020, said spending his twenties on national TV \u201cmeant so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old said he was able to \u201cevolve as an artist in partnership\u201d with Colbert.<\/p>\n

Batiste releases a new album, Big Money, later this month.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has rejoiced in Colbert losing his talk show, with multiple posts on his Truth Social account gloating over the news. <\/p>\n

\"NEWStephen Colbert and Jon Batiste during a 2022 episode of The Late Show. CBS Photo Archive\/CBS via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Trump wrote last month<\/a>, \u201cEverybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night. That is not true! The reason he was fired was a pure lack of TALENT, and the fact that this deficiency was costing CBS $50 Million Dollars a year in losses \u2014 And it was only going to get WORSE!\u201c<\/p>\n

Far from being silenced, Colbert has not shied away from criticizing the Trump administration since the show\u2019s cancellation. Last week he launched a new \u201cspoiled baby emperor\u201d character based on the vice president called \u201cWiddle Pwince Vance.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"JonJon Batiste at the 2025 American Music Awards held on May 26, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gilbert Flores\/Penske Media via Getty Images <\/p>\n

The host also had Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his sights after the health secretary cancelled $500 million in mRNA research, calling it \u201cbad news for fans of living.\u201d<\/p>\n

During an episode last week<\/a>, Colbert added, \u201cWe have 10 more months of this show and I want to give a measured, nonpartisan response here… F— you, you \u2019roid-addled nepo-carnie!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Acclaimed musician Jon Batiste has addressed the axing of Stephen Colbert\u2019s talk show\u2014and hinted at his friend\u2019s next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,1376,75,3668],"class_list":{"0":"post-60972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-stephen-colbert"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}