In a move that’s left fans stunned, CBS has canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, just one day after Colbert called out CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, for paying what he called a $16 million “bribe” to settle Donald Trump’s lawsuit. The lawsuit, which accused 60 Minutes of deceptively editing a 2024 interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris, was widely dismissed by legal experts as baseless. But after the FCC—chaired by a Trump appointee—launched a probe into the interview, while also overseeing Paramount’s $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, the company quietly settled.
Colbert didn’t hold back. And CBS pulled the plug, claiming the decision was “purely financial,” even though The Late Show remains the highest-rated late-night program. The show will end in May 2026. But while Colbert may be out at CBS, he’s been “out” in the best way for the LGBTQ community since day one. The LGBTQ Alley as far back as 2014, skewered then–Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for opposing same-sex marriage. That same year, he spotlighted the legal powerhouses Ted Olson and David Boies, who helped defeat California’s Prop 8.
In 2016, Colbert called out lawmakers for their obsession with trans bathroom bans, branding them “the real weirdos.” His pointed satire landed at a time when anti-trans bills were just gaining steam—bills that now exist in 19 states. In 2017, he mocked Vladimir Putin’s censorship laws by portraying him as a shirtless gay clown singing RuPaul’s “Supermodel.” Then in 2021, Pete Buttigieg used Colbert’s platform to call out attacks on trans youth. And just last year, Stephen Colbert mocked Mark Robinson for referring to himself as “a Black Nazi” on an adult forum, joking that “Donald Trump might say he’s a very fine person, but would not rent an apartment to him.”
Colbert’s joke referenced Trump’s 2017 “very fine people” comment about the Charlottesville white supremacist rally and the 1973 housing discrimination lawsuit against him. Stephen Colbert’s show may be ending, but his legacy as a sharp, fearless queer ally lives on.
