David Letterman unloaded on CBS and Skydance on Friday for cancelling “The Late Show,” which he launched 32 years ago, saying the network had mistreated his successor, Stephen Colbert.
In an interview posted to his YouTube channel, Letterman said he does not buy the official explanation that the show was cancelled for financial reasons.
“This is pure cowardice,” Letterman said. “They did not do the correct thing. They did not handle Stephen Colbert — the face of that network — in the way he deserves to have been handled.”
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Letterman offered his first comments on the cancellation in a Zoom interview with Barbara Gaines, who was executive producer of “The Late Show” for 15 years.
The former late night host brought up Paramount’s $16 million payment to settle President Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview, saying the company had “decided they didn’t care about freedom of the press.”
Letterman also mocked Skydance Media, soon to be the new owner of Paramount, asking if it is a discount airline and referring to founder David Ellison as “the Oracle twins.”
“The Ellison twins, the Oracle boys, they don’t want any trouble along the lines of freedom of the press or free speech or freedom of expression,” Letterman said. “They don’t want to get their hands dirty. They don’t want the government going after them, because that concept of freedom of the press and freedom of speech — that’s so old-fashioned.”
Imagining a conversation between the “Ellison twins” and CBS, Letterman suggested that the new owners wanted Colbert ousted to avoid problems with the Trump administration.
“So they say to the CBS people, ‘Geez, what about that kid, Stephen Colbert? He’s always shooting his mouth off about the administration. We don’t want any trouble from that guy,’” Letterman said. “So the CBS people say, ‘Hey, boys, here’s what I’m going to do. Not only are we going to get rid of that guy, we’re going to get rid of the entire franchise so you don’t have to worry about another guy. It’s gone, buddy.’”
Reports have said that “The Late Show” was losing $40 million to $50 million a year. But Letterman said he found that to be an unpersuasive excuse.
“Here’s what I know. If they were losing this kind of money, you’re telling me losing this kind of money happened yesterday?” he said. “I’ll bet they were losing this kind of money a month ago. I’ll bet they were losing this kind of money six weeks ago. Or they have never been losing money.”
As a late-night host, Letterman often mocked his corporate overlords at NBC and CBS. Colbert succeeded him when he retired in 2015.
He said he believes Colbert will be fine.
“For Steven, I love this. He’s a martyr,” he said. “Good for him. And if you listen carefully, you can hear them unfolding chairs at the Hall of Fame for his induction, right?”