NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Following CBS’s announcement that it would cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is calling on prosecutors in New York to investigate the network’s corporate parent, Paramount, for alleged criminal wrongdoing.
News of The Late Show’s cancellation came just days after Paramount agreed to settle a $16 million lawsuit brought by former President Donald Trump against 60 Minutes and CBS News. The suit alleged that the network had deceptively edited footage of then–Vice President Kamala Harris to show her in an unfavorable light during the 2024 campaign.
CBS maintained that the edits were standard industry practice and protected under the First Amendment, but agreed to settle the case on July 2, 2025. The timing of the show’s cancellation raised concerns that Paramount may have settled the case to smooth the path for its proposed merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media, which is currently awaiting regulatory approval.
Those concerns were voiced by Colbert himself during his July 15 broadcast, in which he described the settlement as a “big fat bribe” intended to secure a favorable outcome for the merger. Two days later, CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show, which has been the top-performing program in its time slot for nine consecutive seasons.
Now, the WGA is calling on New York State Attorney General Letitia James to investigate Paramount’s conduct.
In a statement, a WGA spokesperson said:
“Given Paramount’s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that The Late Show’s cancellation is a bribe—sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company seeks merger approval.
“Cancellations are part of the business, but a corporation terminating a show in bad faith due to explicit or implicit political pressure is dangerous and unacceptable in a democratic society. Paramount’s decision comes against a backdrop of relentless attacks on a free press by President Trump—through lawsuits against CBS and ABC, threatened litigation targeting critical media coverage, and the unconscionable defunding of PBS and NPR.”
A spokesperson for Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
