White House Communications Director Steven Cheung delivered a very public character appraisal of The Late Show‘s Stephen Colbert on Thursday in a social media post, summing his subject up as “a sad and pathetic excuse for a human being.”
The entire commentary was seen on X – formerly known as Twitter.
It spared no expense in its coverage of Colbert, noting a column from Variety about Colbert navigating his final season as a late-night host on CBS full of dewy-eyed reminiscences:
The Daily Beast notes the Variety piece, a column by Daniel D’Addario, suggests guests’ emotional responses to Colbert’s upcoming exit are encouraged by his own team, arguing, “The endless bouquets being tossed Colbert’s way have started to make the studio smell a bit cloying.”
CBS canceled The Late Show in July a week – in what was called a “financial decision” – before the merger between David Ellison’s Skydance and Paramount was approved by the FCC.
Its last episode is scheduled to air on May 21.
The demise of Colbert’s show represents a seismic shift from the era of late-night TV in the streaming age, in which younger viewers have opted for new media instead of more traditional programming.
