NEW YORK (AP) — This isn't a joke. They've made that clear.
CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert condemned parent company Paramount Global's settlement of President Donald Trump's lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” story as a “big fat bribe” during his first show back from a vacation.
Colbert followed “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart's attack of the deal one week earlier. Stewart works for Comedy Central, also owned by Paramount, making the two comics the most visible internal critics of the $16 million settlement that was announced on July 1.
Colbert's “bribe” reference was to the pending sale of Paramount to Skydance Media, which needs Trump administration approval. Critics of the deal that ended Trump's lawsuit over the newsmagazine's editing of its interview last fall with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris suggested it was primarily to clear a hurdle to that sale.
“I am offended,” Colbert said in his monologue Monday night. “I don't know if anything — anything — will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help.”
He said the technical name in legal circles for the deal was “big fat bribe.”
Jon Stewart terms it ‘shameful’
Stewart began discussing the “shameful settlement” on his show a week earlier when he was “interrupted” by a fake Arby's ad on the screen. “That's why it was so wrong,” he said upon his “return.”
He discussed the deal in greater detail with the show's guest, retired “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft, making his views clear through a series of leading questions.
“I would assume internally, this is devastating to the people who work in a place that pride themselves on contextual, good journalism?” Stewart asked.
“Devastating is a good word,” Kroft replied.
A handful of media reports in the past two weeks have speculated that Skydance boss David Ellison might try to curry favor with Trump by eliminating the comics' jobs if the sale is approved. A representative for Ellison did not immediately return a message for comment on Tuesday.
It would be easier to get rid of Stewart, since he works one night a week at a network that no longer produces much original content. Colbert is the ratings leader in late-night broadcast television, however, and is a relentless Trump critic.
The antipathy is mutual. Trump called Colbert “a complete and total loser” in a Truth Social post last fall, suggesting CBS was wasting its money on him. “HE IS VERY BORING,” Trump wrote.
Colbert slips in a quip
Colbert alluded to reports about his job security in his monologue, pointing to the mustache he grew during his vacation. “OK, OK, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert, if they can't find him?” he joked.
Colbert and Stewart both earned Emmy nominations this week for outstanding talk series. Together with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, all three nominees are tough on Trump.
CBS News journalists have largely been quiet publicly since the settlement's announcement. Two top executives, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon and “60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens, both quit or were forced out prior to the settlement for making their dissatisfaction about the idea known internally.
Reporting about the settlement on the day it was announced, “CBS Evening News” anchor John Dickerson said viewers would have to decide on their own what it meant to them.
“Can you hold power to account after paying it millions?" Dickerson asked. “Can an audience trust you when it thinks you've traded away that trust? The audience will decide that. Our job is to show up to honor what we witness on behalf of the people.”
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
