“Didn't he just get cancelled?”: Netizens react to Stephen Colbert winning an Emmy for ‘outstanding talk series’ following show discontinuation 

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won the Emmy award for Outstanding Talk Series on Sunday, September 14. The 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards took place at the Ovation Theater at L.A. Live.

Notably, CBS had announced the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on July 17 this year. Colbert also referenced it when he came to present an award at the Emmys. He received a standing ovation before saying:

“While I have your attention, is anyone hiring? Cause I’ve got 200 very well-qualified candidates with me here tonight who’ll be available in June. I also brought my own resume with me tonight.”

He then received another standing ovation after his show won the award. Fans online have reacted to Colbert's win, as one X (formerly Twitter) user asked:

"Didn’t he just get canceled?"

Another wrote,

Another commented,

Many users, however, were pleased with Colbert's win, as one tweeted:

Another wrote,

Another commented,

Also Read: "Going out with a bang" — Internet reacts to Stephen Colbert recreating Andy Byron's Coldplay kiss cam scandal on "The Late Show"

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Stephen Colbert's speech after winning the Emmy Award

66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Show (Image Source: Getty)

The Late Show host has been nominated 44 times in different categories with multiple shows at the Emmys over the years. However, this marked his 11th win. It was arguably more meaningful, with his show about to end in May 2026.

In his speech after the win, Stephen Colbert reflected on the time when he was offered the show in 2015. He said (h/t Variety):

“Ten years ago in September of 2015, Spike Jonze stopped by my office and said, ‘What do you want this show to be about?’ I said, ‘I don’t know how you could do it, but I’d like to do a late-night comedy show about love'. I don’t know if I ever figured that out, but at a certain point, and you can guess what that point was, I realized that in some ways we were doing a late-night comedy show about loss. And that’s related to love because sometimes the only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it.” "Ten years later, in September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America. Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor!” he added.

The final episode of The Late Show will be shot in May 2026.

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Donald Trump expressed his happiness when Stephen Colbert's show was canceled

In June this year, CBS announced that The Late Show is being canceled and will run until June 2026. While it garnered reaction from across the media fraternity, one prominent reaction was that of the US President Donald Trump. He wrote on his Truth Social account:

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”

Colbert has often criticized Trump and his policies, despite the latter being a guest on his show in 2015. The show's cancellation also came with a controversy surrounding Trump. Paramount, CBS' parent company, had merged with Skydance Media and settled a lawsuit with Trump just days before The Late Show was canceled.

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Also Read: Megyn Kelly mocks Kamala Harris’ recent Stephen Colbert interview, compares her to Elle Woods from ‘Legally Blonde’

Edited by Aditya Singh