Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr criticized the reaction from the political left following CBS’s decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, describing the outrage as rooted in partisanship rather than economics.
“The partisan left’s ritualist wailing and gnashing of teeth over Colbert is quite revealing,” Carr wrote on X Tuesday. “They’re acting like they’re losing a loyal DNC spokesperson that was entitled to an exemption from the laws of economics.”
Carr’s comments came after CBS announced last week that The Late Show would end after its upcoming season. The network attributed the decision to financial considerations. Reports indicate that the program was losing roughly $40 million annually despite holding the top spot in late-night ratings.
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
Social media responses to Carr’s statement echoed his point. “They ARE losing a loyal spokesperson. They don’t care about the economics, they care about the messaging,” one user wrote. Another added, “Socialists don’t understand economics.”
Colbert addressed the cancellation during Monday night’s broadcast with a monologue laced with expletives, taking aim at CBS, its parent company Paramount Global, and President Donald Trump. He joked about the timing of the decision, claiming that his recent “blistering” monologue — delivered just days before the announcement — could have played a role.
“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,” Colbert quipped. “When obviously CBS saw my upper lip and boom, canceled. Coincidence? Oh, I think not. This is worse than fascism. This is stashism.”
He also mocked CBS’s reported reasoning, questioning how a top-rated show could face cancellation purely for financial reasons. Colbert claimed CBS insiders leaked information about the program’s losses to justify the decision.
Meanwhile, Trump has publicly stated that Paramount’s upcoming ownership change will lead to an additional $20 million in advertising and public service announcements.