CBS aired the final episode of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" on Thursday, marking the end of an iconic late-night franchise. While most news outlets covered the finale on Friday, "CBS Mornings" notably ignored it entirely.
Directive from CBS News President
According to Puck founder Matthew Belloni, the omission was not an oversight. He reported that the morning show's Friday broadcast had "no highlights" and "not a single mention of a pretty major event on its own network." The reason appears to be a specific directive from CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, who allegedly disliked Colbert's recent bit mocking CBS News' failure to secure a China visa for anchor Tony Dokoupil.
Belloni wrote, "Colbert 'kicked colleagues when they were down,' one source at CBS News told me today. 'It was unprofessional and unprovoked.'" HuffPost reached out to CBS News for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The Pumpkin Sketch
Earlier this month, when President Donald Trump visited China, Dokoupil — viewed as the network's "MAGA-coded anchor" — failed to secure a visa and instead reported from Taiwan. In response, "The Late Show" aired a phony broadcast mocking CBS News, featuring a fake Dokoupil with his head stuck inside a pumpkin, reporting from "the wrong China." An old lady representing CBS News' editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, then beats the bogus Dokoupil on the head with a mallet and baseball bat until he falls.
Belloni noted that despite the snub, "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King "posted a gushing farewell to Colbert on Instagram and hit the finale afterparty on Thursday night." He described the move as "CBS News's final middle finger to Colbert."
Background on Cancellation
While CBS has insisted that ending "The Late Show" was "purely a financial decision," many assume Colbert was axed to appease Trump and secure approval for a merger deal. Days before the cancellation announcement, Colbert had criticized CBS' parent company, Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance), for settling a lawsuit with Trump over a "60 Minutes" episode with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
