Jon Stewart blasts Paramount for axing Colbert’s “The Late Show”, calling out corporate fear and censorship in a fiery monologue on ‘The Daily Show”.
Jon Stewart unloaded a scathing rebuke of Paramount Global this week, using the opening monologue of Monday night’s The Daily Show to excoriate the network over its decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show.
With trademark indignation, Stewart accused Paramount of allowing “fear” to dictate its programming choices, arguing that the very satirical voices that built the company’s value are now being silenced in a bid to appease powerful political forces.
“I understand the corporate fear. I understand the fear that you and your advertisers have with eight billion dollars at stake,” Stewart told his audience.
“But understand this, truly: the shows that you now seek to cancel, censor and control— a not insignificant portion of that eight billion-dollar value came from those fucking shows. That’s what made you that money.”
Stewart’s fiery delivery made clear that he believes networks are sacrificing the bold commentary that once defined late-night television in hopes of flying under the radar of a “boy king” who he implied still holds sway over corporate boardrooms.
He called out the notion that studios can buy immunity through bland, noncontroversial programming, warning: “If you believe as corporations or as networks, you can make yourselves so innocuous that you can serve a gruel so flavorless that you will never again be on the boy king’s radar…you are fucking wrong.”
Stewart’s monologue shifted to a pointed dig at Fox News and its owner Rupert Murdoch, highlighting the irony of Murdoch’s network spending all day praising Donald Trump while also facing a lawsuit filed by the former president. “Imagine suing someone mid‑blow,” he quipped, both mocking the absurdity of the lawsuit and the lengths to which media outlets will go to maintain favor.
Stewart also addressed the swirling theories that Colbert’s show was axed due to political pressure or a retaliatory text from the White House. “If you’re trying to figure out why Stephen’s show is ending, I don’t think the answer can be found in some smoking gun email or phone call from Trump to CBS executives,” he said, suggesting instead that “pre‑compliance” and corporate timidity are the real culprits.
The comedian insisted that institutions across America are capitulating to what he termed “vengeful and vindictive” demands, and that this moment requires resistance, not surrender.
Although Stewart plays for laughs, he was sober in acknowledging that The Daily Show itself now sits under the Paramount umbrella and could be next on the chopping block.
He referenced comments he made on his podcast last week about new owners Skydance potentially “selling the whole fucking place for parts,” yet insisted he remains undeterred. “I’m not giving in, I’m not going anywhere, I think,” he said, before closing with a musical twist on Colbert’s own closing line: “If you’re afraid and you protect your bottom line, I’ve got but one thing to say: ‘Go fuck yourself.’”
As late-night television finds itself thrust into the national spotlight, Stewart’s blistering critique underscores a growing tension between creative freedom and corporate caution—one that could reshape the landscape of political satire for years to come.
