“CBS Mornings” host Tony Dokoupil offered a different take than most of his colleagues — and even some at other legacy media networks — when he conceded on Tuesday that the decision to oust Stephen Colbert and cancel “The Late Show” might have been about politics, but not in the way they all thought.
Amid a virtual firestorm of complaints that Colbert’s cancellation was political — specifically, he’d been too vocally opposed to President Donald Trump on a network that was staring down the barrel of a multi-million dollar lawsuit — Dokoupil argued that the “one-sided” nature of Colbert’s commentary may have put off more people than just Trump.
WATCH:
WATCH: ‘CBS Mornings’ co-host Tony Dokoupil brings a much-needed reality check to the table of liberal journalists fawning over ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’. His co-hosts dismissed all this, proving his point:
“I don’t have an MBA, but I don’t — [Jon Stewart] is not… pic.twitter.com/qR5R74g2vY
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 22, 2025
Co-host Vladimir Duthiers complained that, regardless of the expense to produce shows like Colbert’s, they were “part of the cultural zeitgeist and they have been part of television since the beginning of television. So that’s why people are reacting the way that they are.”
Over several objections from his co-hosts, Dokoupil laid out his point — and also argued that comedian Jon Stewart was wrong when he suggested that Paramount had felt threatened by Colbert’s show as the merger progressed: “No, I understand the emotional views. I don’t have an MBA, but [Stewart is] not right that the merger, the $8 billion, is based on reruns of a comedy show, no. People are buying the movies and the sitcoms, and the sports. They’re not based on reruns of us either, so I think it’s wrong.”
“And what no one seems to acknowledge is that the politics also changed,” Dokoupil continued. “The business changed, and so did the politics. And it got way more one-sided than anything Johnny Carson was ever doing. I think we should reflect on those changes as well. It’s been a big shift culturally in that regard, also for sure.”
“People will miss those shows when they’re gone, that’s the bottom line,” Duthiers insisted.