One of the major differences between Stephen Colbert and “Stephen Colbert” is that the former isn’t much of a conspiracy theorist. The network-friendly version of Colbert, which he presented on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, was always a less cynical and hard-edged version of his late-night persona. Nevertheless, bits like “The Vax-Scene” were still a little too rough for the thin-skinned elites attempting to squash all televised dissent, and CBS fired him. But the real Stephen Colbert is also a more chill customer who doesn’t appear to hold many grudges, which is why he tells The New York Times that, after 21 years of working with CBS, he’s more “grateful for” than “mad about” his time there. Still, he can’t help but notice that “something changed” in the less than two years between his firing and the network asking him to sign a longer-term contract.
Speaking with the Times, Colbert says that he doesn’t dispute CBS’s rationale, despite making jokes about it. However, the network created this fishy situation where everyone is questioning their motives “by bending the knee to the Trump administration over a $20 billion, settled for $16 million, completely frivolous lawsuit.” Colbert doesn’t discount that two things can be simultaneously true: Broadcast TV can be in trouble, and some shady behind-the-scenes machinations led to his dismissal. “Less than two years before they called to say it’s over, they were very eager for me to be signed for a long time,” he continued. “So, something changed.”
The Times clarifies that CBS wanted him to sign a five-year deal, but he opted for three, and they fired him about two years in. Why not wait for the contract to expire? Well, that’s the fin of the fishy part. His cancellation came swiftly after the Paramount-Skydance merger, which, in addition to settling the aforementioned frivolous suit, was contingent on bending to the FCC’s whims regarding content because Brendan Carr’s ideologically driven FCC required more conservative oversight. CBS answered the call by adopting an in-house watchdog, firing Colbert, and giving the reins of CBS News to Bari Weiss, who believes what real hardworking, blue-collar Americans want is fealty to the administration and interviews with Erika Kirk.
Nevertheless, Colbert appears to be taking it all in stride. “I have zero desire to have a contentious relationship with my network,” Colbert said. “I’ve really liked working with CBS. They’ve been great partners. And I’d like to end it that way. Eleven years is a long time to work here. And almost 10 years before that, almost 21 years altogether, in late night. I feel so much better to be ‘grateful for’ than to be ‘mad about.'”
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