David Letterman is not holding back. The 78-year-old late-night icon is coming to the defense of his successor, Stephen Colbert, after CBS announced it would be axing The Late Show next May, despite the program leading the ratings. In a new interview, Letterman tore into the network, calling the decision by CBS “pure cowardice” and accusing them of acting out of fear and politics, not finances.
“This is gutless,” Letterman said bluntly while speaking to former Late Show producers Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay. “I think one day, if not today, the people at CBS who have manipulated and handled this, they’re going to be embarrassed.” Letterman, who created The Late Show in 1993 after NBC famously snubbed him for The Tonight Show, handed over the reins to Colbert in 2015. Since then, Colbert has steered the show in a bold political direction, frequently criticizing Donald Trump. According to Letterman, that may have been his undoing.
He claimed CBS canceled the franchise to make things easier for incoming Paramount CEO David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, amid Skydance Media’s high-profile merger. “Hey boys, here’s what we’re gonna do: not only are we gonna get rid of that guy, we’re gonna get rid of the entire franchise so you don’t have to worry about another guy. It’s gone,” Letterman mocked. The comedy legend also took aim at Ellison directly, calling him a “bottom feeder” and suggesting he “should’ve bought a Dairy Queen instead of a television network.”
David Letterman Blasts CBS Over Colbert Ax
CBS has blamed the cancellation on financial losses reportedly between $40 and $100 million annually. But Letterman wasn’t buying it. “You’re telling me losing this kind of money happened yesterday? I bet they were losing this kind of money a month ago, six weeks ago, or they have never been losing money,” he said.
He also pointed out the contradiction in CBS’s decision: “Despite the show ‘losing tons of money,’ they’re going to let him stay on air for the next ten months… That’s another huge chunk of money they’re gonna lose, according to them.”
David Letterman is not holding back. The 78-year-old late-night icon is coming to the defense of his successor, Stephen Colbert, after CBS announced it would be axing The Late Show next May, despite the program leading the ratings. In a new interview, Letterman tore into the network, calling the decision by CBS “pure cowardice” and accusing them of acting out of fear and politics, not finances.
