CBS announced tonight that they are cancelling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert after the next season, stating that it was “purely a financial decision.”

Colbert said at the show’s taping Thursday that he found out about the show’s cancellation a day earlier. In response to the studio audience booing, Colbert said, “Yeah, I share your feelings.”

CBS is owned by Paramount, which is in the midst of an $8 billion merger with Skydance. That deal has been delayed for months, as President Trump filed suit with CBS owned 60 minutes. On July 2, Paramount agreed to settle that suit and pay Trump $16 million.

On his show, airing on CBS, as well as streaming on Paramount Plus, Colbert criticized the settlement between Paramount and Trump, calling it “a big fat bribe.”

In his remarks to his audience, Colbert said, “Before we start the show, I want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending The Late Show in May. It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away.”

He added, "And I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. And of course, I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night….. I'm grateful to share the stage with this band, these artists over here.
And I am extraordinarily, deeply grateful to the 200 people who work here.

“We get to do this show for each other every day, all day, and I’ve had the pleasure and the responsibility of sharing what we do every day with you in front of this camera for the last 10 years. And let me tell you, it is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it, and it’s a job that I’m looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another 10 months….Okay, that's all I wanted to say.”

Colbert previously hosted Comedy Central’s news satire series The Colbert Report during which he portrayed a character named Stephen Colbert, parodying conservative pundits. The Colbert Report was a spin off for The Daily Show hosted by Jon Stewart.

The Late Show franchise will fold after 33 years, with the first 22 seasons having been hosted by David Letterman.

‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ airs at 11:30 e/p on CBS and is available for streaming on Paramount+