Stephen Colbert thinks it’s “affordable” for individuals to suppose The Late Present’s cancellation was politically motivated.
The 61-year-old broadcaster shocked viewers in July when he revealed his CBS present was coming off air subsequent yr, shortly after he criticised father or mother firm Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump and through a time when the studio was ready for approval for its merger with Skydance.
Whereas CBS insisted the choice to axe the present was “purely monetary” and never associated to “different issues taking place at Paramount”, many speculated that that wasn’t the case, although Stephen himself has refused to “have interaction in that hypothesis.”
Requested if he felt the present was axed for political causes, he advised the brand new difficulty of America’s GQ journal: “That’s not my response to it. My response as knowledgeable in present enterprise is to go: That’s the community’s determination.
“I can perceive why individuals would have that response as a result of CBS or the father or mother company — I’m not going to say who made that call, as a result of I don’t know; nobody’s ever going to inform us — determined to chop a cheque for $16 million to the president of the USA over a lawsuit that their very own legal professionals, Paramount’s personal legal professionals, stated is totally with out advantage.
“And it’s self-evident that that’s damaging to the fame of the community, the company, and the information division. So it’s unclear to me why anybody would do this aside from to curry favour with a single particular person.
“If individuals have theories that affiliate me with that, it’s an affordable factor to suppose, as a result of CBS or the company clearly did it as soon as.
“However my aspect of the road is clear and I’ve no real interest in choosing up a brush or including to refuse on the opposite aspect of the road. Not my drawback. “
Stephen admitted he has “emotions” concerning the finish of The Late Present however would not need to talk about them publicly as a result of the programme will not finish till Might 2026.
He stated: “So individuals can have their theories. I’ve my emotions about not doing the present anymore, however you’d have to indicate me why that’s a fruitful relationship for me to have with my community for the subsequent 9 months, for me to have interaction in that hypothesis.”
Stephen admitted he was shocked by the choice as a result of he has all the time had a “nice relationship with CBS.”
He stated: “It’s one of many explanation why this was so shocking and so stunning that there was no preamble to this.
“We do budgets and every little thing like that. We’ve performed cuts and stuff like that.
“In order that’s why it was shocking to me, as I stated, however I meant what I stated [on air] the subsequent evening after I came upon, as a result of I couldn’t sit on it. They’ve been nice companions. They actually have. They’ve been very supportive.”
