Fox News host Jesse Watters ran a segment Thursday that showed Stephen Colbert fans being interviewed and offering their opinions on the cancellation of his late-night program.
The results were hilarious.
Guests were lined up outside the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. Watters’ man-on-the-street interviewer, Johnny Belisario, first asked if they were sad about Colbert’s imminent departure next year.
“I’m despondent,” one woman said. “He’s really done a lot for America,” another woman claimed, as if he were a veteran.
Another man said, “It pisses me off. Like, for real, for real. Like, he’s the best thing on TV right now.”
When they were asked about the reason for his cancellation, most answers were along the lines of “It was a political decision.”
One person simply said: “Trump.”
Someone else repeated Colbert’s claims that President Donald Trump’s lawsuit was a $16 million bribe by Paramount for their upcoming merger, and that his candor got him fired.
Several supporters accused Trump of “censoring” Colbert, but then short-circuited when asked why so many other anti-Trump hosts are still on the air. One woman, who was stumped by this question, didn’t even know what Colbert’s salary was.
Do you think more late-night hosts will see their shows canceled in the coming years?
For the record, he was making between $15-20 million. And for what? To lecture half the country on his personal politics, and push more people to get the COVID-19 jab?
When the elephant in the room was finally addressed — that his show had a $40 million shortfall, likely due to Colbert alienating half his audience — the reaction was priceless.
Who do @colbertlateshow fans BLAME for Stephen Colbert’s cancellation? pic.twitter.com/T4563ZbYy7
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) July 25, 2025
Some people from the crowd were in agreement that this was unacceptable, and finally came to the realization that it was a business decision.
Others stuck to their guns, with one man saying he’d “make adjustments,” but wouldn’t change the host, or the far-left content.
Even CNN’s Brian Stelter had to admit last week that it was based on monetary losses, saying: “Think back to 2023, when ‘The Late, Late Show with James Corden’ went off the air. I reported at the time that that show had become unprofitable, that CBS was not able to sell enough ads to make that show profitable.”
He added, “Well, that is now the case for Colbert as well. I’m told by a source close to the network that ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ is now technically unprofitable. So that does give the company a financial reason to end the show starting in May 2026.”
If Colbert had simply stuck to the formula followed by the late, great Johnny Carson of “The Tonight Show” fame, he might have been spared. The simple trick was: Don’t get political.
Carson was the master. Beloved by all. Republicans, Democrats, and independents. His only goal was to make us laugh. Colbert failed miserably at that.
“You never knew Johnny’s politics,” Jay Leno said of Carson. “Johnny would come out and equally make fun of everybody.”
Today, you’d be hard-pressed to find even one voice in late-night comedy who doesn’t express constant disdain for Trump or his supporters.
That approach is simply bad business practice.
Hopefully, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon are next on the chopping block, as the age of late-night comedy finally comes to an end. Not with a bang, but with a leftist whimper.
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