Jimmy Kimmel didn’t hold back after news broke that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026. On Thursday evening, just hours after CBS confirmed the cancellation, Kimmel posted a full-hearted and pointed Instagram Story that voiced his support for Colbert while taking a direct jab at the network behind the decision.
Jimmy Kimmel addresses Stephen Colbert late show cancellation
“Love you Stephen,” Kimmel wrote, captioning a clip from Colbert’s on-air announcement. He followed that with a not-so-subtle dig, “F— you and all your Sheldons CBS.”
Kimmel’s reaction comes amid growing backlash toward CBS, whose top executives claimed the Late Show cancellation was “purely a financial decision.” Despite the show being the #1 late night show for nine consecutive seasons, CBS announced it would not only end Colbert’s run but retire the Late Show franchise altogether.
The announcement immediately raised questions. Colbert, a long-time critic of Donald Trump, had just slammed CBS’s parent company, Paramount, for agreeing to a $16 million settlement with Trump.
The deal resolved a lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview that Trump alleged was deceptively edited. Colbert called the payout “a big fat bribe,” questioning whether it was designed to grease the wheels of Paramount’s pending merger with Skydance Media.
As Colbert delivered the Late Show cancellation news to his studio audience, boos rang out. “Yeah, I share your feelings,” he responded, clarifying that the show wasn’t being handed off to a new host; it was being completely shut down. “I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”
Kimmel’s comment is more than just a gesture of solidarity; it also taps into a wider debate about whether political pressure and corporate maneuvering played a role in Colbert’s exit. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Adam Schiff have both called for transparency, with Warren tweeting that “America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
For now, Colbert has committed to finishing strong. “It’s a job that I’m looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another 10 months,” he told viewers.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on ComingSoon.
