ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel interrupted his summer vacation to show support for fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert following the announcement that CBS will be ending The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — and the Late Show franchise altogether — at the end of the upcoming 2025-26 season.
“Love you Stephen. F*ck you and all your Sheldons CBS,” Kimmel wrote in a story on his personal Instagram account as he reposted the video of Colbert revealing CBS’ decision to end The Late Show at the start of tonight’s telecast.
It is unclear what exactly Kimmel is referring to; it may be a reference to CBS’ The Bing Bang Theory franchise, whose character Sheldon got his own spinoff, Young Sheldon, which, in turn, led to another spinoff, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.
In a companion announcement by CBS, the network said that the cancellation of The Late Show was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” a likely reference to the pending acquisition of CBS parent Paramount Global by Skydance.
Earlier this week, Colbert, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, called Paramount Global’s $16M settlement of Trump’s 60 Minutes lawsuit a “big fat bribe.” Settling the suit had been considered a move by Paramount to help secure FCC approval for the Skydance merger.
The news of the pending cancellation comes two days after The Late Show With Stephen Colbert landed another Emmy nomination for Outstanding Talk Series.
Unlike their predecessors, the current late-night hosts, including Kimmel and Colbert, have showed great camaraderie and banded together during the writers strike for a podcast to support their striking staffs.
They have appeared on each other shows and had done events together, including Colbert and Kimmel’s bit at the 2019 Emmy Awards, pictured above.
The Late Show is the first marquee 11:30 PM broadcast late-night show to end, leaving the future of the other two, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, uncertain.