The co-creator of The Daily Show has called out CBS for canceling Stephen Colbert’s late-night program, saying it indicates the network is “afraid.”
Lizz Winstead appeared on MSNBC on Sunday after authoring a scathing op-ed in Rolling Stone on Friday that cast doubt on CBS’ assertion that it canceled The Late Show purely for financial reasons.
“Certainly no one is going to say, ‘Oh, we’re thriving in television,’” she told the Velshi program on Sunday. “People don’t watch late night the same way they used to. Everybody knows that, but also to just drop the franchise itself? It’s not [just] Stephen Colbert. It’s a double. It’s a twofer, right?”
“And that says to me: fear. We’re afraid,” added Winstead.
She said Colbert had served “brilliantly” over the years as a comic who would “call BS, no matter who the powerful person is, on their hypocrisy or screwing up.”
Winstead formerly served as head writer and an early correspondent for The Daily Show, and was involved with bringing Colbert on to the show in 1997.
She also suggested, like many other critics have, that CBS’ decision had political involvement from President Donald Trump—a longtime foe of Colbert’s.
“When the truth tellers are the comics, and those comics are actually resonating with the people that Donald Trump has not been able to reach, then he’s got to go Plan B,” Winstead said. “And Plan B is, ‘Oh, look at me. I have a merger... I can ask for what I want, and I can silence those voices.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS for comment.
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved an $8 billion merger between Skydance and CBS’ parent company, Paramount, a week after Colbert announced his show was being axed.
It followed Paramount’s controversial decision to pledge $16 million to Trump’s future presidential library to settle a lawsuit the president filed over a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump claims the interview, which aired during the 2024 campaign, was deceptively edited.
Trump has celebrated Colbert’s ouster and said other late-night hosts, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, are next.
“These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!” he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.
