Stephen Colbert at the 2025 Emmys. Image Credit: Valerie Macon / AFP - Getty Images via NBC News
(The Post News) – Just two months after announcing CBS would unexpectedly end The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the comedian earned a standing ovation as the program won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series.
In a room of supporters chanting his name Colbert thanked his family, the team of professionionals of the show, and CBS for allowing him to be part of a “long-standing tradition”.
According to CBS, the 10-season show was canceled due to financial reasons. However, Colbert suggested the decision was linked to a merger between Paramount, CBS’s parent company, and Skydance. The merger reportedly required approval from the Trump administration. As a longtime critic of Trump, Colbert implied that the company agreed to cancel the show to accommodate the deal—a move criticized by supporters and fellow talk show hosts Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel.
Stewart described the cancellation as a tactic of control and censorship, while Kimmel expressed support for Colbert in a social media post. CBS maintained that the decision was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount.” Nevertheless, Trump himself tweeted, “Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, [Jimmy] Fallon will be gone.”
At the Emmy ceremony at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater on September 14, Colbert addressed the political context, saying he hopes this form of media continues long after him. “Sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it. In September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America,” he said.
Other nominees for this year’s Outstanding Talk Series Emmy included Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The eleventh season of the talk show is scheduled to run through May 2026.
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