There’s been an ongoing chorus over the last several months after CBS announced it had canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that the move was made for political reasons. Things came to a head to the point where the man himself commented on whether or not politics were involved, noting his “side of the street" was "clean.” This obviously didn’t quiet the noise. Now, one longtime reporter shares his take on what he really thinks is happening.
But First, Some CBS And Trump Administration Backstory
Critics of the administration have alleged two things in relation to the cancelation of The Late Show. The first is the way CBS settled a lawsuit for $16 million involving Kamala Harris that paved the way for the Paramount/Skydance merger. Colbert criticized the move on his show, and it was canceled shortly thereafter. Secondly, Trump has made his dislike for late night no secret. Jimmy Kimmel has taken flak. Seth Meyers has taken flak. And Trump even shared an AI video of himself kicking Colbert into a big green dumpster.
This video is still up and available for public consumption on the X(Twitter) profile of the President of the United States.
pic.twitter.com/LU644jFVH2May 22, 2026
At the time of this writing, the video has been viewed 100.8 million times.
It Was This Video That Prompted One Late Night Reporter To Speak Out
It was this viral moment that one longtime late night reporter feels is evidence Trump was involved in the ousting of Stephen Colbert at CBS. During a segment on MSN, NYT reporter Bill Carter opened up about the video and why he feels it is “not a good development for the country.”
It’s not a good development for the country, obviously. Certainly the idea that he throws a man in the dumpster at the end of it indicates that he was personally involved, really the government was pushing to get rid of this man. Because he was a critic. This is so alien to our values that I think most Americans, even people who are kind of neutral on him … know this is something we don’t do.
He went on to talk about CBS as a network in general, noting he feels the network should never have capitulated when it came to the aforementioned interview with Kamala Harris, which the Trump administration had alleged deceptive editing over. A lawsuit ensued, and while CBS issued no apology, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle. The money will allegedly go toward Trump's Presidential Library.
I think CBS, when they capitulated in the lawsuit that Trump filed against 60 Minutes, was sending a signal that they’re not going to be the independent journalism outfit that they should be. And not just giving up Colbert, but wiping out the time period, they basically said, we’re not even the same business anymore. We’re backing away. We’re giving up on this because maybe it would be too hard to hire somebody who wasn’t going to make jokes about the President.
Colbert had commented on this suit on the air, and he said later he was told via phone call he'd been axed. He'd been taking a nap before his show hit the airwaves when the call came in from his agent with the news. CBS CEO George Cheeks only called him later.
Meanwhile, CBS has increasingly taken flak for the way 60 Minutes and other news programming has been handled under Bari Weiss. Scott Pelley has specifically been vocal about "political bias" and the newcomer changing the integrity of the news at the network. Former CBS News Senior Vice President Betsy West went so far as to claim, "Everything she's touched has turned to shit."Amidst firings, Anderson Cooper also stepped down. (Though that was allegedly for personal reasons.)
The Late Show has now ended, but CBS is still in the news and not just producing the news on a regular basis. We'll keep you posted as the summer wears on.
