Columnist tells Megyn Kelly real reasons Colbert was canceled

Columnist Maureen Callahan told SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly on Friday during her podcast that she believes the reason for ending late-night host Stephen Colbert’s show is that people don’t want to be “lectured” by him.

CBS announced Thursday that it will end Colbert’s “The Late Show” by May 2026, wrapping up its final season. While discussing the cancellation, Callahan said the show’s end is “another nail in the coffin” for legacy media.

“This is amazing for so many reasons, but, culturally, it’s so indicative of, it’s another nail in the coffin for legacy media. It’s not just that they’re canceling Colbert. They’re killing the show altogether. Now, late night talk shows have been in America’s living rooms basically since the birth of television,” Callahan said.

“We’ve been hearing rumblings over at ABC that they’re none too pleased with Jimmy Kimmel’s performance, and he’s the next one to go,” Callahan added. “Jimmy Fallon is down to four days a night, and there have been rumors that his show is on the chopping block. Seth Meyers, who is in the 12:30 slot at NBC, had to fire his band as a cost-cutting measure.”

In their statement regarding the show, which has aired since 2015, CBS executives cited the cancellation as “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” according to Variety. The executives dismissed any speculation tying the cut to performance, adding that the decision was not made over the “show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

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Callahan went on to cite how former daytime show host Ellen DeGeneres had also been cut in 2022 and how singer Kelly Clarkson’s show is allegedly spiraling down as well.

“Ellen DeGeneres lost her show. She’s out of the country. Oprah has become a joke in the culture. Kelly Clarkson, who is the last remaining monocultural daytime talk show, is losing her mind over there,” Callahan said. “That show is apparently, whether it’s the jab plus the schedule, she is in a meltdown for the ages. She just canceled her Las Vegas residency, Adele style, a minute before she was supposed to take the stage. Yeah, so it’s a dying format. It’s a dying art form.”

“People are going to YouTube, to the digital lane elsewhere. Finally, with Stephen Colbert, he is such a schoolmarm. He is such a hectoring, humorless lecturer,” Callahan said. “Hardworking people at the end of their night do not want to be lectured by the likes of a bespectacled Stephen Colbert projecting from his diaphragm. They want some laughs, they want some stuff to go down easy, and they want to be lulled to sleep. He’s not the guy.”

In recent years, Colbert has repeatedly brought up political topics, recently calling out President Donald Trump for sending the National Guard in response to riots in downtown Los Angeles and saying he had “fascist impulses.” Colbert also promoted the COVID-19 vaccine, performing a dance in support of it and receiving massive pushback afterward.

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