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Late night comedian Stephen Colbert expressed disappointment with Paramount after the CBS parent company settled a lawsuit brought by President Trump earlier this year, calling it harmful to the company’s reputation.
“My reaction as a professional in show business is to go: That is the network’s decision,” Colbert said during a recent interview with GQ Magazine.
Colbert, who hosts CBS’s “The Late Show,” said he can “understand why people” would see the settlement as a means of currying favor with the Trump administration because “Paramount’s own lawyers, said is completely without merit.”
“And it is self-evident that that is damaging to the reputation of the network, the corporation, and the news division. So, it is unclear to me why anyone would do that other than to curry favor with a single individual,” the comedian continued. “So, it is unclear to me why anyone would do that other than to curry favor with a single individual.”
“If people have theories that associate me with that, it’s a reasonable thing to think, because CBS or the corporation clearly did it once,” he added. “But my side of the street is clean, and I have no interest in picking up a broom or adding to refuse on the other side of the street. Not my problem.”
Paramount’s settlement, stemming from the way it edited a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, came just weeks before Trump’s administration approved a multi-billion dollar merger between the company and entertainment giant Skydance.
Soon after the merger, CBS announced it was canceling Colbert’s show effective next May, citing financial hardships.
Paramount’s control of CBS has been highly scrutinized in the months since amid leadership changes and after several leading journalists have left the network in recent weeks.
Colbert has for years been sharply critical of Trump and his allies, telling GQ he gets “a lot out of going out there and doing jokes about what happened today, no matter what happened today.”
“But especially if I see something that I think is detrimental to the American people and to the reputation of a country that is irreplaceable,” the comedian said. “There’ll never be another America. But that doesn’t mean it’s invincible.”
Well, that weighs on your heart, just as an American to see that, depending on your point of view,” he added. “And I’m grateful to go do the jokes.”
His comments come as Trump, who has praised the new leadership at CBS, sat for an interview with “60 Minutes” on Sunday.
