Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr on Tuesday responded to the leftist uproar over CBS canceling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” pointing out that the negative reactions to the program’s demise are one-sided.
“The partisan left’s ritualist wailing and gnashing of teeth over Colbert is quite revealing,” Carr wrote on X. “They’re acting like they’re losing a loyal DNC spokesperson that was entitled to an exemption from the laws of economics.”
The partisan left’s ritualist wailing and gnashing of teeth over Colbert is quite revealing.
They’re acting like they’re losing a loyal DNC spokesperson that was entitled to an exemption from the laws of economics.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) July 22, 2025
Many commenters on the social media platform agreed.
“They ARE losing a loyal spokesperson. They don’t care about the economics, they care about the messaging,” one account replied.
“Socialists don’t understand economics,” another wrote.
“Their desperation is pathetic and (Trump Derangement Syndrome) is terminal,” a third commenter chimed in.
CBS announced last week that it was canceling “The Late Show” after the upcoming season, which has inspired outsized reactions from the Left. The network described the move as a “purely financial decision.” A recent report stated that the program was losing $40 million annually.
Colbert went off on an expletive-laced tirade during his monologue Monday night, blasting President Donald Trump and CBS. Colbert mentioned how the network’s parent company, Paramount Global, paid Trump a $16 million settlement earlier this month after being accused of election interference.
“People have been speculating about the timing of this decision from Paramount, and they’re pointing out that last Monday, just two days before my cancellation, I delivered a blistering monologue in which I showed the courage to have a mustache,” said Colbert. “When obviously CBS saw my upper lip and boom, canceled. Coincidence? Oh, I think not. This is worse than fascism. This is stashism.”
“They clarified that the cancellation was purely a financial decision. But how could it purely be a financial decision if ‘The Late Show’ is number one in ratings? A lot of folks are asking that question, mainly my staff’s parents and spouses,” Colbert went on.
Next, he accused CBS insiders of leaking financial details to justify the cancellation.
“Over the weekend, somebody at CBS followed up their gracious press release with a gracious anonymous leak saying they pulled the plug on our show because of losses pegged between $40 million and $50 million a year. $40 million is a big number. I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million? Oh, yeah,” he said, seemingly referencing the amount of the settlement.
Trump has since said that he anticipates an additional $20 million in advertising and public service announcements after new owners take control of Paramount.