Just as Stephen Colbert and other late-night comics found their political voice, streaming shifted the power dynamics. As their influence waned, Trump’s rose.

The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert tempted fate when he called Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump a “big fat bribe” earlier this week. Three days later, CBS announced it would end his show after the upcoming 2025-2026 season.

Colbert’s cancellation came days after he mocked Paramount, which owns CBS, for its $16 million settlement with Trump in a lawsuit many considered meritless. That settlement comes as Paramount attempts a merger with Skydance Media, which requires Federal Communications Commission approval to proceed.

The president also took aim at ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and NBC’s “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, while praising Fox News’s Greg Gutfeld, whose talk show “Gutfeld!” airs an hour earlier than the major late-night shows.

CBS’ decision to cut ties with Stephen Colbert and its decades-old “Late Show” franchise come next May will leave a major hole in the format — but one that has been widening. TV networks have been cutting costs at their late-night mainstays for the past few years.

Stephen Colbert devoted a goodly amount of time in his Thursday night monologue to the ongoing criminal trial over the hush money Donald Trump paid to keep his sexual relationship with former porn ...