Stephen Colbert Roasts Paramount for Pulling the Plug After Warner Bros. Bid

Stephen Colbert kicked off the latest Late Show by doing what any good employee does when the boss flashes a ridiculous number: he wondered why that cash did not show up when they were axing shows. With Paramount (his corporate parent via CBS) tied to a newly reported $108 billion push to grab Warner Bros. Discovery, Colbert turned the headline into a neat twofer: roast the deal, then jab the network.

On air, he framed it as a hostile takeover bid and ran through the mountain of stuff that comes with WBD. We are talking the kind of IP library that makes accountants see cartoon dollar signs:

• DC superheroes
• Harry Potter
• Looney Tunes
• Scooby-Doo
• Fifty Shades of Grey
• The Lord of the Rings

He even pushed the bit into a gleefully dumb mash-up with a line about Fifty Shades of Gandalf the Grey. Low-hanging, sure. Still funny.

'Wow! I got to say, if my company's got that kind of green, I'm sure they can afford to un-cancel one of their best shows.'

The crowd lit up, and Colbert played the swerve: he said he meant CBS's The Equalizer, the Queen Latifah drama the network canceled after five seasons. 'CBS, you heard the people. Bring back The Equalizer. We need our Queen to return. Why do you think America has become so unequalized?'

Everyone got the subtext. This was also a wink at his own situation. CBS plans to end The Late Show in May 2026, and the network has already called that move 'purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.'

So yes, the number is huge. Colbert called it a hostile run at Warner Bros. Discovery by the Paramount-and-Skydance camp and laid out the sheer volume of franchises at stake. But the sharper point was the contrast: if you can find $108 billion to buy a rival studio, maybe you can also find the budget to keep a hit late-night show alive. The audience seemed to agree.