**”David Letterman Drops Bombshell on CBS After Stephen Colbert’s Sudden Firing – You Won’t Believe What He Said on Air!”**
Unlike Stephen Colbert’s late-night TV contemporaries, four of whom—Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon—showed up on his The Late Show on Monday night, David Letterman hasn’t made an official statement about the late-night series he originated back in 1993’s shocking cancellation. But he has subtly hinted that he’s not very happy about it.
Related: Stephen Colbert Has Honest Response to ‘Late Show’ Cancellation
On Monday, just days after Colbert went on the air and informed his millions of faithful viewers that, through no fault or decision of his own, he had been informed that CBS and its parent company Paramount had opted to cancel the long-running series, with its last episodes scheduled to arrive in May.
So it was hardly a coincidence that Letterman, who could never resist poking fun at the network who signed his checks, soon posted a 20-minute montage video of all the times he called out CBS during his own Late Show run.
Letterman’s many bits included a Top 10 List on possible “New NBC Slogans” in the wake of Fox taking NFL Football from the network’s schedule. The move came less than a year after Letterman had moved from NBC to CBS amidst lots of fanfare, so included “If you bring your talk show here, we’ll sell all our stations” as his No. 5 option and “You can’t spell ‘bumbling executives’ without C-B-S’” as his No 2. slogan.
Letterman was famous for airing his grievances with the network to sidekick/musical director Paul Shaffer as well as his audience, which often included calling random people at the network and, on more than one occasion, having a higher-up visit him on the show.
That the video was captioned “You can’t spell CBS without BS” was both a fun callback, and a clear indication of how Letterman, who announced his retirement in 2014 and sat behind the desk for the last time on May 20, 2015, seems to be taking the news.
Many of Colbert’s contemporaries have not kept their mouths shut when it comes to his cancellation.
Despite being on his annual summer vacation, Jimmy Kimmel Live! host was Colbert’s first colleague to speak out. He took a break from his time off to post a message to the host, and the network who fired him, via social media, saying: “Love you, Stephen,” followed by, “F–k you and all your Sheldons, CBS.”
On Monday night, four more of Kimmel’s late-night rivals/pals appeared on The Late Show to rally around the host in support. Meyers, Fallon, Stewart, and Oliver all made guest appearances on Monday night in a sketch themed around the now-viral Coldplay kiss cam.
David Letterman Trolls CBS Following Stephen Colbert’s Shocking Ouster first appeared on Men’s Journal on Jul 22, 2025