"The Late Show" may be coming to an end next may, but Stephen Colbert pulled no punches in the first episode since CBS cancelled the show, by taking a jab at Paramount in his monologue and filling his audience with celebrities.
On Thursday, CBS said cancelling "The Late Show" was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night." It added that it was unrelated to "the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."
The surprising move came after Colbert criticized CBS Entertainment's parent company, Paramount Global, for disclosing its agreement to pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit in which he accused the company of "deceptively editing" an interview with Kamala Harris on "60 Minutes" in October.
"I don't know if anything will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help," he said on July 14.
Afterward, he introduced "Weird Al" Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who performed Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" in a spoof of last week's viral Astronomer CEO kiss-cam incident.
Celebrities including Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, the "Hacks" star Christopher McDonald, Adam Sandler pretended to be caught on kiss-cam. The montage also included an animated version of Trump hugging the Paramount logo.
Colbert ended the skit by interrupting Yankovic and Miranda's performance by jokingly saying he had a "note from corporate."
"Your song has been canceled. It says here, 'This is a purely financial decision,'" he said. He added that since they started singing, "the network has lost, and I don't know how this is possible, $40 million to $50 million," referencing the losses that CBS claims explain the show's cancellation.
Representatives for CBS did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
