Charlamagne the God believes Paramount axed Stephen Colbert’s show for Skydance merger, claims both things happened in “the same week”

Charlamagne Tha God recently shared his reaction to the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, saying that it had happened reportedly due to Paramount’s merger with Skydance. Notably, the announcement of the show being cancelled was made on July 17, 2025.

In the latest episode of the Brilliant Idiots podcast, which aired on July 27, 2025, also featuring Andrew Schulz, Charlamagne Tha God addressed the reason that was given by CBS for the cancellation, citing that it was a financial decision.

The radio host claimed that no one believed that the decision was linked to financial issues and referred to Paramount’s merger by saying:

“Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his disdain for Colbert...Paramount is looking to be bought by Skydance. And in order to the Skydance merger to go to, it’s like a $8 billion merger, in order for the merger to go through, Donald Trump has to approve, well the merger.”

Schulz responded by saying that the merger had to be approved by the FCC, also known as the US Federal Communications Commission, adding that Donald Trump was possibly not the person who ordered the firing of Stephen Colbert. Andrew explained how Paramount was prioritizing the merger over everything else, as he stated:

“Paramount is putting their bottom line in front of the integrity of their business. They’re going, ‘We don’t care about the integrity of our media business. We want to make this merger happen. We want this sale. So fu*k integrity.’”

Charlamagne then questioned who would want to watch anything on Paramount if they have no integrity. He also claimed that a meeting related to the merger reportedly happened the same week when Stephen Colbert was fired. Andrew replied by saying:

“Larry Ellison’s son, David Ellison, owns Skydance, which wants to buy Paramount and wants to make this merger happen.”

Schulz was then about to say something when Charlamagne was checking his phone, saying:

“Met with the FCC the same week they got rid of Colbert.”

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Paramount and Skydance merger to result in a lot of changes

A report by BBC News on July 25, 2025, stated that the FCC approved the merger worth $8 billion between Paramount and Skydance. The news was initially announced by FCC head Brendan Carr, and the merger will lead to the broadcasting licenses of the CBS stations being handed over to the new owner.

The merger was approved with a vote of 2-1, and Carr addressed the changes emerging from the deal by saying:

“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change.”

According to Variety, the Skydance and Paramount merger will lead to the exit of the head of Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, Chris McCarthy, alongside the chief of Paramount Pictures, Brian Robbins. Furthermore, George Cheeks will reportedly continue to serve as the CEO of CBS.

Moreover, NBCU CEO Jeff Shell claimed in a presentation of the merger last year that Skydance was aiming for cost cuts of around $2 billion. In a statement obtained by Variety, Shell admitted that things have changed for CBS despite that it had a very strong reach in terms of business. He further stated:

“I think a lot of us in the business know, we got to run these businesses in a different way as they decline.”

While the companies have not made any official announcement about the layoffs, the employee count at Paramount has dropped to 18,600, as of December last year, compared to 24,500, which was reported around two years ago.

As per Deadline, the merger has also left a question mark on the future of The Daily Show, hosted by Jon Stewart, and the linear cable networks. Meanwhile, the merger is supposed to be completed next month by August 7, as confirmed by both companies.

Edited by Arunava Dutta