{"id":9,"date":"2026-05-19T13:38:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=9"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:38:58","slug":"colbert-receives-a-heros-sendoff-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=9","title":{"rendered":"Colbert Receives a Hero\u2019s Sendoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to Forgotten Fact Checks. This week, we look at the media coverage of the end of Stephen Colbert\u2019s late-night run on CBS, and we cover more media misses.<\/p>\n

Read more Colbert Receives a Hero\u2019s Sendoff<\/a><\/p>\n

The Late Show<\/em>\u2019s Final Days<\/p>\n

Stephen Colbert\u2019s The Late Show <\/em>will come to an end on Thursday, after eleven years on air \u2014 and claims about the left-leaning comedian being a free-speech warrior who was canceled for daring to speak out against President Trump are everywhere.<\/p>\n

A recent segment on NBC\u2019s Sunday Today <\/em>blamed Trump for the show\u2019s cancellation, with entertainment correspondent Chloe Melas \u2014 a former Colbert intern \u2014 telling viewers CBS was recently acquired by Skydance Media, \u201cwhose owner David Ellison is a prominent Trump supporter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCBS called the cancellation a purely financial decision and not related in any way to the show\u2019s performance. But that statement doesn\u2019t ring true to everyone,\u201d Melas said, before introducing media reporter Brian Lowry, who explains \u201cthere was a sense the studio was eager to curry favor with the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet, as Media Research Center\u2019s Newsbusters <\/em>points out, Ellison is not, in fact, a \u201cprominent Trump supporter.\u201d In 2024, Ellison donated $929,000 to the Biden Victory Fund, which was the \u201cthe largest recorded contribution that the Skydance Media CEO ever made to a federal candidate,\u201d according to CNBC.<\/p>\n

And never mind there being little to no evidence that Colbert\u2019s cancellation was the result of anything other than financial calculus \u2014 the show\u2019s ratings dropped from 3.1 million viewers in the 2017-18 season to 1.9 million in the lead up to its cancelation, while its ad revenue plummeted 40 percent for a $40 million loss \u2014 NBC is far from the only outlet claiming Trump is to blame for the cancellation of Colbert, the late-night saint.<\/p>\n

NPR critic-at-large Eric Deggans authored a reverential eulogy for The Late Show <\/em>on Monday, telling readers, \u201cFor 20 years, Stephen Colbert distinguished truth from truthiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter more than 3,000 episodes of television stretched over 20 years and two TV networks, this critic believes Stephen Colbert\u2019s greatest legacy as a host and performer comes down to a single word,\u201d he writes. \u201cTruthiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colbert coined the word that represents the belief in something because it feels true, whether it actually is true.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now, as his Late Show<\/em> ends an 11-year run Thursday \u2014 canceled by CBS despite top ratings in a move some suspect was rooted in silencing a high-profile critic of President Trump \u2014 it seems Colbert may have been felled by his stance against such thinking,\u201d Deggans writes.<\/p>\n

Over on CBS Mornings<\/em>, co-host Nate Burleson celebrated Colbert and his fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver as \u201clike The Avengers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper acknowledged there is \u201cno evidence that [Trump] demanded that Colbert be fired or his show canceled,\u201d but nonetheless peddled the theory that Trump had made clear his desires for Colbert to be ousted from his role, and that CBS moved to give the president what he wanted.<\/p>\n

Tapper urged his viewers to consider a timeline of events that included the July 1, 2025, announcement of a settlement in which Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit against CBS over the network\u2019s deceptive editing of a Kamala Harris interview on 60 Minutes. <\/em>On July 14, Colbert called the settlement \u201ca big fat bribe.\u201d Three days later, CBS announced Colbert\u2019s cancellation and on July 24, the the Federal Communications Commission approved the $8 billion Paramount-Skydance merger.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we should note in the midst of all that, on July 18th, Trump posted, \u2018I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next,\u2019\u201d Tapper said. \u201cThe Kimmel kerfuffle happened two months after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, you can make of the timing what you will, but it is inescapable that the decision by CBS Paramount to cancel Colbert pleased Trump,\u201d Tapper added. \u201cAnd the folks who owned CBS Paramount at the time got what they wanted, and they were handsomely compensated for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, while telling viewers about his conspiracy, Tapper acknowledged \u201cit is absolutely true that the economics of late night television have been challenging for quite some time due to a variety of factors including more streaming competition, declining advertising dollars, and on and on.\u201d But while late night is in fact plagued by politics, it\u2019s certainly not in the way Colbert\u2019s supporters would have people believe.<\/p>\n

A recent exchange in which Colbert asked hosts of other late-night programs to make the case for late-night television succinctly showed the problem with late-night television.<\/p>\n

As NR\u2019s Michael Brendan Dougherty writes, not a single late-night \u201ccomedian\u201d mentioned comedy in their responses to Colbert. And Seth Meyers\u2019s case was downright political: \u201cWell, if I would make my case for late night, it\u2019s that leaders of the free world are watching it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dougherty then correctly assesses that much of late-night television amounts to nothing more than \u201canother version of Morning Joe<\/em>, served late at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conservative media watchdog Media Research Center found that, since late 2022, more than 90 percent of late-night political guests have been left-wing. Last year, the group found 99 percent of all late-night political guests were left wing, while 92 percent of jokes attacked Republicans.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to blame CBS for wanting to try something new, particularly as podcasts, streaming, and other platforms have shaken up the way media consumers choose what to watch.<\/p>\n

The Late Show<\/em>\u2019s successor is planning a different approach to late night.<\/p>\n

Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen <\/em>will avoid politics altogether and instead focus only on making people laugh, according to Allen, the show\u2019s creator.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m doing with Comics Unleashed<\/em>, we don\u2019t talk about politics. We don\u2019t talk about anything that\u2019s topical,\u201d Allen told CNN\u2019s Michael Smerconish. \u201cWe don\u2019t do anything that\u2019s racist or sexist or antisemitic or homophobic. Just be funny and don\u2019t offend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care who you vote for. I don\u2019t care,\u201d Allen said. \u201cI\u2019m here to make people laugh. You\u2019re going to vote who you\u2019re going to vote for, no matter what I say. It doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s not my business, do what you do. I\u2019m here to make you laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Media Misses<\/p>\n