"Late Night" host Seth Meyers opened up about his feelings regarding Stephen Colbert's exit from late-night television ahead of the final episode of "The Late Show" on Thursday. "I'm heartbroken," Meyers told Deadline on Wednesday. "It's very sad to lose a colleague and even sadder to lose a time slot."
Meyers continued, "It would be one thing if Stephen was leaving and a younger person was getting a chance to have one of these jobs that are — as someone who's experienced it— so exciting to have. So just in general, I think it's a very sad week for television in America."
Colbert will conclude his 11-year run on "The Late Show" on Thursday night after CBS abruptly announced the cancellation of his show last July. Despite being on different networks — CBS for Colbert and NBC for Meyers — the pair have regarded each other more as colleagues rather than competitors. The network claimed the cancellation was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night," but many speculated it was political, given Colbert's frequent criticism of President Donald Trump.
CBS's announcement came just days after Colbert called Paramount settling a lawsuit with Trump a "big, fat bribe." "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," Colbert said at the time. "I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: it's Big Fat Bribe."
Colbert's time slot will temporarily be occupied by "Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen." Editor's Note: BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced on May 11 that Allen Family Digital, led by Byron Allen, is acquiring a majority stake in BuzzFeed, HuffPost's parent company.
