{"id":345053,"date":"2025-12-12T20:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T20:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/345053\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T20:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T20:26:07","slug":"stephen-colbert-questions-late-show-cancellation-amid-paramounts-warner-bros-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/345053\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert questions ‘Late Show’ cancellation amid Paramount’s Warner Bros. offer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Colbert<\/a> is asking why The Late Show<\/a> was canceled for financial reasons if CBS’ parent company Paramount can offer $108 billion to acquire Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, there\u2019s a huge bidding war going on over who\u2019s gonna buy Warner Bros,\u201d the host explained in his Dec. 8 monologue. \u201cWarner\u2019s got a lot of juicy IP. We\u2019re talking DC superheroes, Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, Fifty Shades of Grey, and The Lord of the Rings.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, a Netflix representative confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the streamer had \u201centered into a definitive agreement<\/a>\u201d with Warner Bros. to acquire the Hollywood titan for a reported $82.7 billion.\n<\/p>\n

However, as Colbert noted, \u201cMy beloved parent company, Paramount, reportedly launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros valued at $108 billion<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Stephen Colbert on ‘The Late Show’.<\/p>\n

The large lump sum took Colbert by surprise. \u201cWow. I gotta say,\u201d he began, \u201cif my company\u2019s got that kind of green, I\u2019m sure they can afford to uncancel one of their best shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

The audience immediately rallied behind the host as they cheered and applauded the idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCBS, you heard the people, bring back The Equalizer!\u201d Colbert teased as a banner for Queen Latifah\u2019s shuttered series was featured onscreen. \u201cWe need our Queen to return. Why do you think America has become so unequalized?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In July, CBS announced that The Late Show would be officially signing off at the end of its season in May 2026.<\/a> At the time, the company said in a statement that the move was \u201cpurely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, many questioned the timing of the announcement given that, just days earlier, Colbert had called out Paramount for\u00a0settling a suit<\/a>\u00a0filed by President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a> that\u00a0some\u00a0legal observers<\/a>\u00a0believe should\u2019ve been dismissed on First Amendment grounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others, like former Late Night host David Letterman, also floated the idea that the series may have been axed in order to minimize complications<\/a> with the Federal Communications Commission over Paramount\u2019s merger with Skydance media group.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with\u00a0our\u00a0EW Dispatch newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During his monologue, Colbert pointed out that Paramount didn\u2019t put up the large amount of money on their own.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir bid includes 24 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi wealth funds,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when the dictator of Saudi Arabia gives you billions of dollars, I\u2019m sure there\u2019s no catch!\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

He quipped, \u201cIn a totally unrelated story, I\u2019m looking forward to next season\u2019s new CBS hit comedy, Young Muhammad Bin Sheldon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Colbert discuss Paramount\u2019s hostile takeover to try and acquire Warner Bros. in the clip above.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert is asking why The Late Show was canceled for financial reasons if CBS’ parent company Paramount…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-345053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345053","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=345053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}