Stephen Colbert and CBS both say his show will end in May 2026

CBS is axing The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in May 2026, the host told an audience at a taping on Thursday.

The announcement came two days after Colbert spoke out against CBS Global settling with U.S. President Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes story.

“I am offended,” Colbert said in his monologue on Monday night. “I don’t know if anything — anything — will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”

Colbert said the technical name in legal circles for the deal was “big fat bribe.”

The news of the show being cancelled was also announced in a press release sent from CBS with a link to a clip of Colbert’s announcement on Instagram.

The comedian and TV personality began by telling the audience he was sharing something he learned the night before: “Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending the Late Show in May … it’s the end of the Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”

The most recent ratings from Nielsen show Colbert as winning his time slot, with about 2.417 million viewers across 41 new episodes. It also said his late night show was the only one to gain viewers so far this year.

Reuters reported that a statement from CBS indicated that the show is ending and Colbert will not be replaced.

“This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” the statement said.