Billionaire Cowardice and Free Speech

Let's not pretend the canceling of Stephen Colbert and "The Late Show" was not surrendering to Donald Trump and his desire to silence dissent

Stephen Colbert called the payment to Trump “a big fat bribe.” (Screenshot from CBS)

What is the point of making billions if it causes you to abandon principle and act with cowardice? What is the point of living in a democratic country if you reject the sacred right of free speech by capitulating to a hateful despot bent on the destruction of self-governance and our 249-year-old American project?

What’s next? Billionaires putting to work lawlessly rounded-up migrants or funding poison to turn the Florida concentration camp into a death camp? Will they justify it like chemical-maker I.G. Farben did in Nazi Germany that their use of Auschwitz slave labor and production of Zyklon B poison gas was good business?

It may seem like a major, hyperbolic leap from a decision to pay off Donald Trump with $16 million in order to smooth the multibillion-dollar merger of Paramount with Skydance to the deadly horrors of Nazi Germany. It’s the kind of linkages which I’ve hesitated making again and again over the last decade since Trump descended from his golden escalator and demonized Mexicans.

But the announcement this past week by Paramount that they are canceling “The Late Show” led by the supremely talented Stephen Colbert is a stark reminder that the conditions for atrocities are facilitated by the silencing of dissent. CBS’ owner could blithely insist that it was a financial decision “not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount." But let’s not allow their protestation to insult our intelligence and pretend this isn’t capitulation.

Yes, they may not have liked it when Colbert said on-air he was “offended” by Paramount’s settlement of a nuisance lawsuit involving an interview edit by CBS’ iconic 60 Minutes news program, describing their payment as a “big fat bribe.” Yes, they are a private company with the right to cancel shows as they see fit, especially ones that are not making the profits they want.

But they are a media company in a democratic society with inherent public responsibilities. That should always include upholding the Constitution and supporting the First Amendment, and especially when it’s under attack by a hostile government. They well knew that this was a decision that would please Trump—and surely activate his bottomless desire to demand more from perceived enemies. “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump posted after the announcement.

The owner of CBS has hit another nail in the coffin of legacy media and its history of credibility and honor. It beseeches all of us in independent media—and everyone who supports it—to speak out vigorously against a dictatorial regime and all those who surrender to its threats and demands.

Ostensibly, CBS will not be canceling “The Late Show” until May 2026, but I wouldn’t be sure that Colbert’s incisive observations between now and then won’t convince the company to speed up its demise. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to Colbert sharpening his knife and showcasing what free speech is all about.

We’ll need to keep hearing from this gifted comedian and communicator, be it under the “Late Show” lights or in whatever enterprise and formats he may develop once he departs CBS. We can’t count on his sharp wit to “save us,” but we surely need his voice to strengthen the opposition as we all work to reject the deadly agenda of the Trump regime.

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