What To Know
- Reporter Bill Carter suggested that Donald Trump’s public celebration indicates he was “personally involved” in Late Show cancelation.
- CBS cited financial losses, but Carter and some critics believe the decision was politically motivated.
- Carter criticized CBS for capitulating to political pressure.
Longtime reporter Bill Carter has said Donald Trump‘s celebration of The Late Show‘s cancelation indicates the president was “personally involved” in getting Stephen Colbert thrown off the air.
Carter, who wrote the book The Late Shift about the David Letterman and Jay Leno late-night wars, appeared on MS NOW’s The Weekend on Saturday (May 23), during which he was asked about the end of The Late Show and Trump’s ongoing attacks against late-night comedy.
“It’s not a good development for the country, obviously,” Carter said, per the New York Post, before touching on a post Trump made on social media following the Late Show series finale. “Certainly the idea that [Trump] throws a man in the dumpster at the end of it indicates that he was personally involved.”
Carter was referring to an AI-generated video that Trump shared on his official X account last week. In the video, Trump is shown in the Late Show studio, grabbing Colbert by the collar, throwing him into a dumpster, and then dancing to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”
CBS previously cited financial reasons for canceling The Late Show, claiming the show loses $40 million annually. At the time, some critics argued the axing was politically motivated, with parent company Paramount hoping to appease Trump amid its merger with Skydance, which required government approval.
“The government was pushing to get rid of this man because he was a critic,” Carter said. “And, you know, that is so alien to our values that I think most Americans — even people who are kind of neutral about it, maybe not his strong supporters — know this is not something we do. We don’t do that. We don’t shut people up because they criticize us.”
He went on to say that CBS “capitulated” to the Trump administration and that most people no longer believe the show was axed due to “financial reasons.”
“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,” the veteran reporter stated.
Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen has replaced The Late Show on CBS’ late-night schedule.
Carter added, “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.’”