The New Owners of Paramount Might Dump Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart for Being Anti-Trump

I’ll be brave and say it: I don’t like Donald Trump. 

If you’re thinking, “Well, hey, it’s actually not very brave at all to say that,” I have a counterpoint: I’m braver than Paramount. The media conglomerate settled a $16 million lawsuit with Trump, the result of Trump suing 60 Minutes for $10 billion for an interview the show conducted with Vice President Kamala Harris. 

You know who else is braver than Paramount? Jon Stewart, who ripped into the company (and Trump) during his Monday night segment. 

But now Stewart and Stephen Colbert might be the next to be vulnerable, as Paramount has shown they are willing to cave to political pressure. As reported in Oliver Darcy’s newsletter Status, the pending merger between Skydance and Paramount is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks. Skydance is led by Larry and David Ellison, who have already hinted at overhauling 60 Minutes and have reportedly agreed to allow Trump to run between $15 and $20 million worth of propaganda on the network. 

The pending takeover of Paramount by the Ellisons doesn’t bode well for Stewart, whose contract is set to expire at the end of the year. It also doesn’t look too good for Colbert; while his contract isn’t up until 2026, Colbert has repeatedly been singled out by Trump — he called the host “very boring,” and at one point demanded that CBS terminate his contract. 

The fear for some unnamed media insiders is that in an attempt to gain Trump’s favor, the Ellisons would be willing to dump both hosts and install more politically advantageous talent in those time slots. Stewart’s ratings at The Daily Show aren’t so incredible that there couldn’t be some manufactured, more legitimate reason for pulling him from air. For Colbert, it would be harder; not only is his contract longer, but Late Night with Stephen Colbert also has the highest ratings in late night. 

Darcy writes that there is a world in which the Ellisons take this path, and in doing so, would effectively be “silencing two of Trump’s loudest critics on the airwaves.” While that kind of fascistic control of the media is beyond scary from Trump, the real chilling component is the buy-in from powerful media executives. At CBS, Darcy reports that there is disquiet among employees and a strong suspicion that management won’t support staff in future power struggles. 

Even if Colbert and Stewart do get sacked, they will end up being okay. There will be other TV gigs, and there’s all of those piles of money to consider too. The rest of us might not fare so well. There’s the fascism — and there’s also the potential vacuum of comedy. Can you think of any funny pro-Trump late-night hosts? I can’t.