The Breakfast Club - DONKEY: CBS Is Cancelling 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' Because Of Trump

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

Charlamagne Tha God gives Donkey of the Day to CBS for reportedly canceling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert over Trump. Listen for more!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. The Girlfriends is back with a new season, and this time I'm telling you the story of Kelly Harnett. Kelly spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. As she fought for her freedom, she taught herself the law. He goes, oh God, Harnett, jailhouse lawyer. And became a beacon of hope for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her. I think I was put here to save souls by getting people out of prison.

The Girlfriends, Jailhouse Lawyer. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.. simplify the voices of women in sports. Thank you for supporting I heart women's sports and our founding sponsors elf beauty capital one and Novartis just open the free I heard out and search I heard women's sports to listen now. I'm Bob Crawford host of American history hotline a different type of podcast you the listener ask the questions did George Washington really cut down a church we did came Marilyn Monroe having an affair?

And I find the answers. I'm so glad you asked me this question. This is such a ridiculous story. You can listen to American History Hotline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Ian Pfaff, the creator and host of the Uncle Chris podcast. My Uncle Chris was a real character, a garbage truck driver from South Carolina who is now

buried in Panama City alongside the founding families of Panama. He also happens to be responsible for the craziest night of my life. Wild stories about adventure, romance, crime, history, and war intertwine as I share the tall tales and hard truths that have helped me understand Uncle Chris. Listen now to Uncle Chris on Will Farrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. With the donkey. It's time for Donkey of the Day. With a bunch of donkeys around here. With the Hee Haw. Yes, you are a donkey.

With the hell. With the hell is. The more you need a donkey. Some donkey today just saw himself. Charlamagne, give it to him. Breakfast club all day. Give it to him. Oh man, Charlamagne, who you giving donkey to do tonight?

You know Fridays are usually the people's donkey but I need to talk to you all about something this morning. Donkey of the Day for Friday July 18th goes to Paramount and CBS as a staff, TV network and mother effing crew. Now let the record show I have made, I've had a lot of success with Paramount over the years. I've been rocking with them since 2013, 2014 when they was Viacom. Okay. From Guy Cole to all my late night talk shows, Charlamagne and Friends, Uncommon

Sins, Hell of a Week, God's Honest, Truth, whatever it was called, they have all been with Viacom and Paramount, okay. I make a lot of appearances on the Daily Show. In fact, I'll be on next week. All right. That's Paramount. So yes, they have provided me a lot of opportunity and still do, but of the day does not discriminate not to mention right is right and wrong is wrong And what I witnessed yesterday is absolutely wrong. Now if you haven't heard my guy

South Carolina Brejr and Stephen Colbert informed his audience that cbs has canceled the late show Okay, they canceled the late show and this comes three days after him criticizing the network over their settlement There's 16 million dollar settlement with Donald Trump. But uh, yes starting in May of 2026. The late show will be canceled Let's go to NBC News for the report, please Awesome breaking news here in the entertainment world the late show with Stephen Colbert Ending next year with CBS retiring the late-night franchise Colbert taking to social media to announce it. Here it is I want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending the late show in May. CBS said the

decision was purely financial, quote, against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount. It's worth noting Colbert has been critical of CBS's parent company, Paramount's decision to settle a lawsuit with President Trump. The show topped the ratings for the 1130 slot. Stephen Colbert has hosted the late show for nine years now. Purely a financial decision, huh?

Dear Paramount, lying about why you got rid of Colbert sounds like people in the Trump administration lying about why they wouldn't release the Epstein files. Okay just complete foolishness and nonsense. Now the announcement of the late show's cancellation as I said follows Colbert's criticism of a settlement between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global which is CBS's parent company. Okay Paramount paid Trump 16 million dollars to settle a lawsuit over edits to an October 2024 interview that CBS's parent company. Paramount paid Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over edits to an October 2024 interview that CBS's 60 Minutes did with Kamala Harris. Colbert, just

like Jon Stewart, has rightfully criticized this move. He called this settlement a big fat bribe. Let's listen to him address it on the Colbert Show from a few days ago. My parent corporation, Paramount, paid Donald Trump a $16 million settlement over his 60 minutes lawsuit. As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I'm offended. And I don't know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company, but just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help. This settlement, this settlement is for a nuisance lawsuit Trump

filed claiming that 60 Minutes deceptively edited their interview with then-candidate Kamala Harris last fall. Paramount knows they could have easily fought it because in their own words the lawsuit was completely without merit. Unlike the payoffs from ABC and Twitter, Paramount's settlement did not include an apology. Instead, that's good. Instead, the corporation released a statement where they said, you may take our money, but you will never take our dignity. You may, however, purchase our dignity for the low, low price of $16 million.

We need the cash. Now, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles. It's Big Fat Bride. Because this all comes as Paramount's owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner. Skydance! And some of the TV typers out there are blogging that once Skydance gets CBS, the new owner's desire to please Trump could put pressure on late night host

and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert. Okay okay but how are they gonna put pressure on Stephen Colbert if they can't find him? It's so obvious that Paramount is doing this to appease Donald Trump. Let's not do this stupid thing we do in the media where we ask answers okay. Don't't say things like, well, is this politically driven by Donald Trump? Come on. Of course it was. Paramount needs to appease Trump. So this merger with Skydance and Paramount can happen. Paramount paid Trump $16 million for essentially no reason. Okay. The FCC launched an investigation in the CBS after Trump's claims,

claims of bias editing, even though CBS released full transcripts to prove accuracy and most folks who know a thing or two about legal issues said that the lawsuit bought by Donald Trump against Paramount should have been dismissed on First Amendment grounds. But let's call it what it is. Paramount is looking for FCC approval for its Sky Dance merger. Trump can block that if he wants to. So canceling Colbert is an obvious move to appease Donald Trump.

And I need to tell y'all something. If you don't think we are under a regime with an authoritarian strategy, then you are bugging. This is textbook authoritarian rule. Target your critic, centralize power in a few hands, intimidate through punishment or removal. And you know what that usually does? Shuts people to f up. Okay. Titans control over public discourse, sends a message to all media outlets that criticism of Trump could cost you access, approval, editorial control, all your job. This is what authoritarian regimes do. They weaponize legal systems to punish dissent and control messaging. What happened with Paramount and Trump is intimidation tactics

disguised as legitimate legal action. I thought this was the administration that didn't believe in censorship. I thought this was the administration that believed in free speech. They do until you criticize them. Paramount and CBS should be ashamed of themselves and you can't trust anything you see on Paramount, CBS moving forward. Did y'all even think about how this will impact any of your news programming? We the people already don't trust most news outlets in America which is why the podcast and online business is booming because people with no corporate connections, no corporate

interests are able to speak freely even though they may be really misinformed but that's what people are going and that's who people are trusting because even though it might be misinformation it feels more honest. Okay we can't trust any news or opinion programming that comes from Paramount now they are obviously compromised. Well let me take that back one program you can still trust the Daily Show but after seeing what happened with Kobe how do we know the same thing won't happen to the great Jon Stewart and the gang at the Daily Show? Do you think Jon Stewart who

shouldn't run for president in 2028, do you think he's going to stop criticizing Paramount for settling with Trump? Huh? Do you think he's going to have nothing to say about his friend Stephen Colbert being let go? What are you going to do Paramount? Are you going to bend the knee to authoritarian strategy again and suppress another outspoken critic of Trump? I know, I know Paramount has an $8 billion merger with Skydance looming and y'all don't want Trump to stop it but is

but but but is it worth okay? Is it worth losing all credibility and all trust with your audience in the process? The answer to that should be no. I just want y'all to know when the highest rated show in late night is ended despite strong ratings especially right after political criticism it becomes a warning okay it becomes a warning speak out and we will silence you that is textbook authoritarian strategy okay because it deters further criticism through the fear of retaliation okay make America North Korea make America China make America Russia that's where we are if we live in a country where there is strategic silence within corporate or

media power structures to limit dissent. Okay? When that happens, it's already happened. We are fully under authoritarian rule. Okay? This is not just a media story. It's a free speech funeral in slow motion. Paramount cut a 16 million dollar check to Donald Trump so they can get their merger approved and keep the FCC off their backs. That's not business. That's extortion dressed up in a suit and tie. That's hush money for the truth. Stephen Colbert gets his show canceled after calling out the deal. That's not coincidence. That's consequence. That's what happens when you speak truth to power in a country where the

power don't want wanna hear the truth. Please let Remy Ma give CBS Paramount the biggest hee haw. Hee haw, hee haw. You stupid mother fucker, are you dumb? No, I'm supposed to be on The Daily Show next week. If that changes, I'll let y'all know. Yeah. As you said it, I was like, maybe not.

Maybe, maybe not. You know it happens. Well thank you for that donkey today sir. Now something that's been all over the news and all over social media yesterday was about this CEO he was at a Coldplay concert and they're saying he got caught cheating on his wife. Let's go to the news report. Let's hear it. Oh, look at these two. All right, come on. You OK? Uh-oh, what?

Ow! Either they're having an affair or it's very sharp. It's the latter, Chris. It seems to be the latter. Yeah, this is a kiss cam catastrophe. This couple was caught on the big screen at the Coldplay concert in Boston last night and you heard the lead singer there, Chris Martin, calling the couple out after it seemed like they did not want to be seen. Well, the two people appear to be the CEO

of a software development firm and his head of HR. Both of them married to other people with families. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn. So we're asking. So he got caught at a Coldplay concert. It was a Kiss Cam. The Cam showed the couple and he dipped. He got low, low, low, low, low and she ran off. So the question is, is Friday, so you know what that means?

It's freaky, freaky, freaky Friday. You're not going to do with me? All right. It's freaky, freaky, freaky, freaky Friday. Freaky, freaky, freaky, freaky freaky freaky Friday you're not gonna do with me? alright it's freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freaky freyzy freyzy freyzy freyzy freyzy freyzy freyzy freyzy fre on the Kiss Cam, it went viral, his whole family had to see it, Jesus Christ. But we're asking what is the craziest place you guys got caught cheating? That is the question. Excuse me? I'm not talking about me,

you're talking about black men don't cheat. Oh, good black men don't cheat, I am just, I can't even participate in this topic. Black women don't even, I don't know, I don't remember. I don't remember. We'll talk about that. Eighth, five, eight, five, one, oh, five, one, we'll take your calls when we't remember. I don't remember. We'll talk about it. 8-1-2 Discuss. 585-105-1.

We'll take your calls when we come back. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. The Breakfast Club. If you're injured, go to michaelthebull.com. That's michaelthebull.com. And when you mess with the bull, you get the horns. The Girlfriends is back with a new season. And this time, I'm telling you the story of Kelly Harnett. Kelly spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. As she fought for her freedom, she taught herself the law.

He goes, oh God, Harnett, jailhouse lawyer. And became a beacon of hope for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have your faith Oh God, her and that jailhouse lawyer. And became a beacon of hope for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have your faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her. I think I was put here to save souls by getting people out of prison. The Girlfriends, Jailhouse Lawyer.

Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. by passion. Podcasts that amplify the voices of women in sports. Thank you for supporting I Heart Women's Sports and our founding sponsors, Elf Beauty, Capital One, and Novartis. Just open the free I Heart app and search I Heart Women's Sports to listen now. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions. Did George Washington really cut down a cherry tree? Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair? And I find the answers.

I'm so glad you asked me this question. This is such a ridiculous story. You can listen to American History Hotline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Ian Faff, the creator and host of the Uncle Chris podcast. My Uncle Chris was a real character, a garbage truck driver from South Carolina, who is now buried in Panama City

alongside the founding families of Panama. He also happens to be responsible for the craziest night of my life. Wild stories about adventure, romance, crime, history, and war intertwine as I share the tall tales and hard truths that have helped me understand Uncle Chris. Listen now to Uncle Chris on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

This is an iHeart Podcast.