Stephen Colbert’s final Late Show episode arrives after a cancellation announced last year. Don Lemon marks the exit with a Substack essay titled “Don’t Cry For Stephen Colbert. Cry For The First Amendment,” linking Colbert’s firing to broader threats to free speech. Lemon compares his own CNN departure to Colbert’s situation, saying networks pushed him out after he asked conservatives hard questions and held up a mirror nightly. Lemon notes CBS cites financial losses of $40 to $50 million per year and argues that changing media consumption pressures the traditional late-night model. He also connects the timing to Colbert’s public criticism of Trump’s settlement with Paramount following a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, and he criticizes former Late Show and CNN leadership without naming names.
"“The networks didn't like me asking conservatives hard questions. CNN didn't like the mirror I was holding up every night. So they pushed me out. And I thought: if it happened to me it will happen to others. It will trickle down. Or up. Depending on how you look at it. Now it has trickled all the way to late night television.”"
"“CBS says The Late Show was cancelled because it was losing $40 to $50 million a year. That may be true. The traditional late night model is genuinely under financial pressure. The way people consume media has changed. I have lived that change. I built my entire second act on it, right here on this platform and on YouTube and Twitch and everywhere the audience actually is.”"
"“But here is what is also true. The cancellation was announced two days after Colbert publicly criticized Trump's settlement with Paramount, CBS's parent company, over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Colbert called himself, on air, a martyr of free speech. He was not performing. He believed it. And I believe him.”"
Read at www.mediaite.com
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