Political Firestorm Erupts on Late-Night Television
In a dramatic appearance on The Late Show, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren launched an immediate broadside against Stephen Colbert's corporate bosses, turning what's typically light-hearted entertainment into a platform for political confrontation. The hardline Democrat didn't waste a moment, interrupting her host midsentence to target David Ellison, the newly appointed CEO of Paramount, CBS's parent company.
Warren's Immediate Attack on Media Consolidation
Before the audience at New York City's Ed Sullivan Theater had even settled, Warren embarked on her rant, explicitly naming the Paramount chief. "We don't think one man or one corporation named David Ellison should be able to buy up all the shows and buy up all the sports and buy up all the news and decide who watches what and who says what," she declared to applause from the crowd. Her comments came just as Paramount made a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, highlighting ongoing concerns about media consolidation.
Colbert's reaction was visibly uncomfortable. With a grimace, he responded with heavy sarcasm, stating, "I've never met Mr. Ellison, and I'm sure he's a fine fella," while turning directly to the camera. He quickly stage-whispered to his guest, "You're going to get me sued," before the conversation eventually moved to other topics.
The Backstory: Trump Settlements and a Cancelled Show
This confrontation didn't emerge from nowhere. The tension stems from Paramount's $16 million settlement with Donald Trump earlier this year, concerning a September 2024 60 Minutes segment that the conservative figure claimed was deceptively edited. Both Warren and Colbert had previously criticised this payout.
In July, just days before CBS announced Colbert would tape his last episode in May, Warren took to social media platform X, accusing Trump of "what looks like corruption in plain sight." She listed substantial settlements from various media companies to the former president. Around the same time, on his first day back from summer break, Colbert himself ranted against his Paramount bosses, labelling the Trump settlement a "big fat bribe."
The timing raised eyebrows. Merely three days after Colbert's on-air criticism, the network announced the cancellation of The Late Show. A report from Puck journalist Matthew Belloni and an official statement from Paramount cited financial reasons, noting the show was losing approximately $40 million annually, with Colbert earning $15 million a year as host.
However, Warren publicly suggested a political motive. "America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons," she posted on X the same day as the Puck report, directly linking the cancellation to Colbert's outspokenness about the Trump settlement and Paramount's then-pending merger with Skydance.
The Aftermath: A New CEO and a Changed Landscape
The merger between Ellison's Skydance and Paramount was finalised in July after a year of uncertainty, minting David Ellison as Paramount's new chief. Ellison, the son of Oracle founder and prominent GOP donor Larry Ellison, has since pledged to shed any prior political connotations tied to the company.
This incident highlights the growing trend of late-night shows becoming political battlegrounds, with hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers also facing viewer criticism for partisan rants. Many are now calling for a return to the gentler, celebrity-focused chat that made broadcasting icons like Johnny Carson so beloved.
