{"id":19855,"date":"2025-07-18T20:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T20:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/19855\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T20:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T20:56:08","slug":"writers-guild-demands-bribery-investigation-after-colbert-cancellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/19855\/","title":{"rendered":"Writers Guild Demands Bribery Investigation After Colbert Cancellation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Writers Guild of America called for Paramount to be investigated for bribery by the New York state attorney general following Thursday\u2019s announcement that \u201cThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert\u201d has been canceled<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the statement, the labor union says it has \u201csignificant concerns\u201d that the move may have been intended to bribe president Donald Trump into sanctioning Paramount\u2019s pending acquisition by Skydance. Colbert is a frequent critic of Trump, having referred to Paramount\u2019s recent $16 million settlement with the president as \u201ca big fat bribe\u201d only three days before the cancellation, and the WGA<\/a> noted that the company could be \u201csacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration. (CBS, for its part, has said \u201cThe Late Show\u201d was canceled as a \u201cpurely financial decision\u201d <\/a>that was \u201cnot related in any way to the show\u2019s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tThe WGA called Trump\u2019s \u201c60 Minutes\u201d lawsuit, which prompted the settlement, \u201cbaseless,\u201d and lamented that \u201cParamount\u2019s decision comes against a backdrop of relentless attacks on a free press by President Trump, through lawsuits against CBS and ABC, threatened litigation of media organizations with critical coverage, and the unconscionable defunding of PBS and NPR.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRead the statement in full below.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn July 2nd, Paramount agreed to settle a baseless lawsuit brought against\u00a060 Minutes\u00a0and CBS News by President Trump for $16 million. On July 15, during a regular show of\u00a0The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/a>, Colbert went on-air and called the settlement a \u201cbig fat bribe\u201d in exchange for a favorable decision on the proposed merger between Paramount and Skydance, a charge currently under investigation in California.<\/p>\n

\n\tLess than 48 hours later, on July 17, Paramount canceled\u00a0The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/a>, a show currently performing first in its timeslot, giving vague references to the program\u2019s \u201cfinancial performance\u201d as the only explanation. For ten years, the show has been one of the most successful, beloved and profitable programs on CBS, entertaining an audience of millions on late night television, on streaming services and across social media.<\/p>\n

\n\tGiven Paramount\u2019s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that\u00a0The Late Show\u2019s cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval.<\/p>\n

\n\tCancelations are part of the business, but a corporation terminating a show in bad faith due to explicit or implicit political pressure is dangerous and unacceptable in a democratic society. Paramount\u2019s decision comes against a backdrop of relentless attacks on a free press by President Trump, through lawsuits against CBS and ABC, threatened litigation of media organizations with critical coverage, and the unconscionable defunding of PBS and NPR.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Writers Guild of America calls on New York State Attorney General Letitia James, no stranger to prosecuting Trump for illegal business practices, to join California and launch an investigation into potential wrongdoing at Paramount. We call on our elected leaders to hold those responsible to account, to demand answers about why this beloved program was canceled and to assure the public that Colbert and his writers were not censored due to their views or the whims of the President.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the meantime, the Writers Guild of America will support our members at\u00a0The Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u00a0and across the late-night industry as they speak truth to power and we will explore all potential legal and political avenues to fight for our members in the aftermath of this decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Writers Guild of America called for Paramount to be investigated for bribery by the New York state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,10674,10675,18220],"class_list":{"0":"post-19855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-stephen-colbert","10":"tag-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert","11":"tag-wga"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}