David Letterman, who hosted “Late Show” from 1993 to 2015, joked that his predecessor, Stephen Colbert, was a “mar teacher,” and questioned his motivation to cancel the CBS show.
Stephen Colbert fights back with Paramount, while Trump sails around the “Late Show” axis
Stephen Colbert blows up Paramount and President Donald Trump after the cancellation of the “Late Show.”
David Letterman has questioned the motivation behind the shock cancellation of his previous CBS home, The Late Show.
Speaking to her colleagues Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay in a July 25 clip of “The Barbara Gaines Show” on Letterman’s YouTube channel, the 78-year-old comedian didn’t hold back. He threw Barbs to CBS parent companies Paramount Global and David Ellison. He was scheduled to become CEO after Paramount merged with Skydance Media in a $8.4 billion deal.
“It’s all very strange. It’s very complicated, but a bit of a surprise, right?” Letterman said. After a 14-minute Zoom conversation he eventually called out to Paramount and pulled the plugs of Stephen Colbert’s show “Pure Coronavirus” and “Gutless.”
Letterman hosted the show from 1993 to 2015, at which point Colbert took over from the “Colbert Report” onwards. After Colbert announced on July 17 that the “Late Show” would end in May more than 30 years later, Paramount issued a statement called “a purely financial decision on the challenging late-night background.”
Media companies also claim that “it has never been related to the performance of the show, the content, or any other issues happening at Paramount.”
Colbert’s show was the highest rating on ET/PT at 11:30pm, but lost $40 million a year.
David Letterman blows up explanation that “Late Show” was cancelled for financial reasons
Letterman speculated that Paramount was surrendering to Ellison. Ellison speculates that “maybe he doesn’t want that guy to have a problem,” referring to Colbert, who has long been known for President Donald Trump’s political satire and criticism.
“We don’t just get rid of that guy, we’re going to get rid of the entire franchise, so there’s no need to worry about another guy,” Letterman said in a spoof of a Paramount executive. “That’s gone, Buddy!”
“I think that’s sad, but what this shows is that they want trouble along with freedom of press and speech or freedom of expression (that’s not Ellison),” Letterman speculated. “They don’t want their hands dirty. They don’t want the government to chase them.”
He also questioned the explanation that cancellation of “Late Show” was “a purely financial decision.”
“I don’t think it’s money. I think it was all about ensuring that (Ellison) his solid spending father (Larry Ellison) money,” he said.
“Are you saying you lost this kind of money yesterday?” he said. “They must have lost this kind of money a month ago. They either lost this kind of money six weeks ago, or they never lost this kind of money.
“Look at the CBS news. It’s still in business. I don’t know that it’s a profit center,” he continued.
“We all have to kiss Stephen Colbert’s ring.”
Letterman, who had complemented the work he had done since taking over Colbert and Letterman’s show, sparked Paramount’s treatment of the star’s talent.
“They didn’t do the right thing. They didn’t treat the face of that network, Stephen Colbert, in a way that he deserved to be treated,” he said.
Letterman went on to declare that those who decided the fate of the “Late Show” would regret the move.
“If one day, not today, the people at CBS who manipulated and dealt with this would be embarrassing because this is not brave,” Letterman said.
“Now we all have to kiss Stephen Colbert’s ring,” he added, jokingly saying he was the “martist” of his shooting.
