“Stabbed in the back by someone I trusted!” — Stephen Colbert Breaks Silence After Brutal Betrayal. Was This Revenge? Who Really Pulled the Strings Behind His Humiliating Exit?
Fired Stephen Colbert hit with most humiliating insult yet by ‘close friend’ of incoming CBS-Paramount boss
Stephen Colbert‘s enormous ego has been slammed by a person close to David Ellison, the Oracle billionaire scion soon set to take over Paramount and CBS News.
‘The news lost its way – it became extreme, elitist, and performative,’ the unnamed insider told The Financial Times Wednesday.
‘People like Colbert and others act like they’re the IP [intellectual property], the value, when it’s the brand and journalism that matter.
‘We need to get back to fundamentals,’ the source said following a decade of spiels from the left-leaning satirist.
‘That’s what David and his team believe.’
The insider then proclaimed that Ellison plans to ‘bring back a performance-based culture’ to CBS, as seen during ‘the days of Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite’.
‘Not quotas. Not ideology. Just objective journalism,’ the source insisted.
Another person close to Ellison said a prominent, right-leaning ex-New York Times opinion writer the company was reportedly in talks with earlier this month, Bari Weiss, could ‘be a key voice but not the only voice’ to the company’s newsroom.
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Stephen Colbert’s smug style was criticized by a person close to the Skydance camp Wednesday, following a decade of smug spiels from the left-leaning satirist
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‘The news lost its way – it became extreme, elitist, and performative,’ the insider close to David Ellison, 42, told The Financial Times. ‘People like Colbert and others act like they’re the IP [intellectual property], the value, when it’s the brand and journalism that matter’
Weiss has surfaced a fierce critic of legacy media after leaving the Times in 2020. The Times reported Weiss is seeking $200million for a spot in the company.
Ellison, meanwhile, is the 42-year-old son of Larry Ellison, a long-time Republican donor worth roughly $300billion. He is an actor turned producer with no background in news, but is bolstered by his deputy, former NBCUniversal exec Jeff Shell
The talks surrounding Weiss, reported by publications like the New York Times earlier this month, served as the first hint at the type of company both are trying to create.
The cancellation of Colbert’s show, moreover, had not involved either of them, insiders told the Financial Times.
Instead, the decision was made by Paramount co-chief executive George Cheeks, they said – corroborating accounts provided to Puck, who reported last week that The Late Show has been losing at least $40million annually.
Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, was only informed the decision before Colbert made the announcement on-air, insiders told the Financial Times.
Colbert, meanwhile, was first informed his show was on the chopping block around July 4, Puck reported.
He will broadcast his final show in May 2026, after ten years of politically charged content.
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The insider said Ellison plans to ‘bring back a performance-based culture’ to CBS, as seen during ‘the days of Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite’. Pictured, the pair of seminal CBS journalists with Douglas Edwards, at left
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David Ellison’s (right) company, Skydance, has received approval to take over Paramount (Pictured: David with his multi-billionaire father and GOP backer Larry Ellison).The two had no involvement in the decision to cancel Colbert, according to people familiar with the matter
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Another person close to Ellison said that if his new firm ends up poaching Bari Weiss – the right-leaning former New York Times opinion writer – ‘she’ll be a key voice but not the only voice’ to the CBS Newsroom.
Should Stephen Colbert have been fired?
Such content often came at the expense of the current president, who earlier this month accepted a $16million settlement of his $20billion lawsuit against CBS News.
The move was panned by many – Colbert included – as a means to secure FCC approval for a then-still pending merger with Skydance.
Colbert, on-air on July 14, called it ‘a big, fat bribe’.
Days later, he was delivering the news of his show’s cancellation. CBS said that after years of declining ratings and ad revenue, the show was losing money.
The same can be said about the shows of fellow late night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, which, when combined with the network’s iconic sketch comedy series SNL, loses the network an eye-watering $100 million-plus a year, insiders told CNBC.
An insider pushed back against the $100 million loss figure when contacted by the Daily Mail.
They insisted the loss figure ‘comes down quite a bit’ when other revenue streams including digital advertising are factored in, while effectively conceding that the shows still fail to break even.
ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel ‘s show remains profitable, when non-traditional TV advertising revenue is taken into account.
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Ellison boasts no background in news but is bolstered by his deputy, former NBCUniversal exec Jeff Shell, who was ousted from his post as NBCU’s CEO in 2023 after his years-long extramarital affair with a then-staffer was exposed
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‘We need to get back to fundamentals,’ the source close to the Ellison camp continued. ‘That’s what David and his team believe.’ Pictured, the 60 Minutes team at the center of Trump’s recently settled lawsuit against Paramount
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The settlement was panned by many – Colbert included – as a means to secure FCC approval for a then-still pending merger. Pictured, the Ed Sullivan Theater, which is only used for Colbert’s show, which reportedly costs $100million a year to produce
Colbert, 61, gets paid somewhere between $15 million and $20 million a year to host.
Shell – Ellison’s de facto consigliere – was ousted from his post as NBCU’s CEO in 2023 after his years-long extramarital affair with a then-staffer was exposed.
He previously urged then CBS execs Bill Owens and Wendy McMahon to bow to some of Trump’s requests following the filing his 60 Minutes lawsuit in October, like providing the full transcript of the 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris in question.
They refused, Status first reported. Both have since resigned.
