Stephen Colbert's "The Late Show" cancelled: Elizabeth Warren, Ben Stiller, John Cusack, Andy Richter, and other celebrities react

The Late Show, which premiered in August 1993, will end in May 2026, with Stephen Colbert as its last host. The CBS television network first announced the news on Thursday, July 17, 2025. CBS reportedly said that the step was purely "financial" and had nothing to do with the show's performance.

The step had further garnered massive attention not just amongst netizens, but also amongst celebrities. Stars like Ben Stiller, John Cusack, and Andy Richter were some of the many celebrities who reacted to the latest news. The show's official page had uploaded a post on Instagram announcing the end of its run.

On July 17, Ben Stiller wrote on X:

"Sorry to hear @CBS is canceling one of the best shows they have. Wishing all the people who work so hard on that show all the best."

Meanwhile, Democratic politician Elizabeth Warren also chimed in. She shared a tweet that claimed that the show apparently got canceled only three days after Stephen Colbert called out CBS for its settlement with President Donald Trump. She even explained that the deal looked like "bribery." She added:

"America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons."

On July 17, actor and comedian Andy Richter praised Colbert and called him a "deeply talented man" who "deserve better," in a post shared on the social media platform Bluesky. High Fidelity actor John Cusack also did not seem very impressed with the action of shutting down The Late Show. He reshared the tweet originally posted by Warren on the same matter.

He further posted another tweet on July 17 that read:

"He's not groveling enough to American fascism - Larry Ellison needs his tax cuts -- doesn't need comedians reminding people they are not cattle.."

According to the BBC, the decision to shut down The Late Show surfaced two weeks after a settlement took place between CBS's parent company, Paramount, and Trump. The suit in question was in connection with a CBS interview with Kamala Harris that happened in 2024.

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A lot of other celebrities had reacted to the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's The Late Show

Apart from the aforementioned names, a lot of other celebrities had either taken to X or commented on Instagram, sharing their take on the decision to cancel The Late Show. Rachel Zegler commented under the Instagram video shared on the show's official page that was made to announce this decision. Zegler wrote:

"I am extremely sad. I adore you, Stephen."

Celebrities like Jon Batiste, Judd Apatow, and Adam Scott expressed a similar point of view on the matter, according to The Hollywood Reporter. US Senator Adam Schiff shared a tweet on X on July 17 discussing the issue.

Schiff's tweet had a similar notion as Elizabeth Warren's, claiming that if there was a political reason behind the decision, the public deserved to know. His tweet read:

"If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better."

Sports writer Jemele Hill also believed that there was a possibility that the step to shut down the show was somehow related to Colbert calling out the network for the apparent settlement with Trump, as per The Hollywood Reporter. Hill further tweeted that the US President possibly pressured the network to get rid of Colbert, who had been his stern critic.

Former United States Representative Adam Kinzinger urged people via an X post to instead cancel Paramount for this decision to end The Late Show, after over three decades. Actor-comedian Michael Ian Black took to Bluesky on July 17 and congratulated Stephen Colbert for never "bending a knee." Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Randi Mayem Singer were some other well-known figures who criticized the network for this decision.

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What did The Late Show host Stephen Colbert say about Paramount?

The Late Show host Stephen Colbert had always been a stern critic of Donald Trump. Earlier this week, he called out his parent company, Paramount, for reportedly settling with Donald Trump. In his opening monologue, Colbert said:

"Now, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles. It's big fat bribe. Paramount's owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance."

For the unversed, Trump sued the network last year over a CBS News 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. The US President accused the network of editing and modifying the interview to make it look like Harris's answers were more competent.

While they reportedly entered a settlement lately, CBS lawyers previously described Trump's case as "without merit." Forbes suggested that, according to reports, Paramount's chair, Shari Redstone, was up for settling, in order to get federal approval for the completion of its merger with Skydance Media.

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While so many netizens and celebrities had been criticizing the network, they have yet to come up with a response.

Edited by Riya Peter