“God Bless America”- Stephen Colbert speaks about his show and more on winning Outstanding Talk Series at the 2025 Emmy Awards

The 2025 Emmy Awards took place on September 15, 2025. Stephen Colbert gave a passionate acceptance speech for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at the ceremony for winning Outstanding Talk Series. Colbert dedicated the award to his wife, children, parents, and late friend Amy Cole.

In his speech, Colbert recalled telling Spike Jonze in 2015 that he wanted his show to be about love. Eventually, he realized the show was about loss, a love-related theme. Closing with the words, "God bless America."

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Stephen Colbert's acceptance speech at 2025 Emmy Awards

At the 2025 Emmy Awards, Stephen Colbert delivered a speech as he accepted the award for Outstanding Talk Series. He started by thanking his children, saying, "Thank you the children. Thank you," before expressing gratitude for the honor.

Colbert then thanked CBS for the privilege, adding,

"I want to thank CBS for giving us the privilege to be part of the late-night tradition which I hope continues long after we're no longer doing this show."

In the 2025 Emmy Awards, he recognizes his talented team, saying,

"I got to thank these people, those people up there, the 200 incredible professionals. You are the pros from do and I'm so proud to be one of you."

At his Emmy Awards speech, Colbert thanked Carrie Bac, James, Baby Doll, and Dixon for their 20-year support. He also expressed his love and gratitude, saying,

"Personally, I want to thank my beautiful, brilliant wife, Evie, who's the real brains of the outfit. My three children, Maline, Peter, and John."

He also dedicated the 2025 Emmy Awards to his parents, his wife’s parents, and a dear friend, Amy Cole. Reflecting on his career, Colbert recalled a conversation with Spike Jonze in 2015. Colbert shared,

"I said, 'Ah, Spike, I don't know how you could do it, but I'd kind of like to do a late night show... about love.'"

He continued,

"At a certain point... I realized that in some ways we were doing a late-night comedy show about loss. And that's related to love because sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it."

Colbert concluded,

"10 years later in September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America."

He ended his speech with,

"Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor."

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Know more about The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert at Apple TV+'s Primetime Emmy Party Red Carpet (Image via Getty)

American late-night talk show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert premiered on September 8, 2015. Following The Late Show with David Letterman, it was CBS' second and final Late Show.

After David Letterman retired in 2015, Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, took over The Late Show. Current events and American politics were emphasized due to Colbert's political satire experience. Jon Stewart, former Daily Show host, joined Colbert's team as an executive producer.

Also read: Emmy Awards Nominations 2025: Full list of nominees for this year

The Late Show set a record by being the highest-rated American late-night talk show for nine seasons. CBS announced on July 17, 2025, that The Late Show would end in May 2026. The franchise ended after 33 years.

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The Late Show with Stephen Colbert can be streamed on CBS.

Edited by Rajan Bhattacharya