Stephen Colbert returned from vacation Monday night with a new salt-and-pepper mustache—and a sharp-edged monologue aimed directly at his own corporate bosses.
The Late Show host addressed the $16 million settlement between Paramount (his parent company) and Donald Trump, who had sued over what he claimed was a deceptively edited 60 Minutes interview with then-candidate Kamala Harris last fall. The payout comes as Paramount awaits government approval for its merger with Skydance Media—timing Colbert was more than happy to point out.
“As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended,” Colbert said. “And I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company. But just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”
Paramount itself described the suit as “completely without merit”—which Colbert gleefully connected to the studio’s recent output. “Keep in mind, Paramount produced Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. They know ‘completely without merit.’”
Unlike other recent settlements involving ABC and Twitter, Colbert noted that Paramount did not apologize. Instead, he joked the company issued a statement: “You may take our money, but you will never take our dignity. You may, however, purchase our dignity for the low, low price of $16 million. We need the cash.”
The payoff, Colbert said pointedly, had a legal term: “Big fat bribe.”
The host went on to address mounting speculation that the Skydance merger will make the company more Trump-friendly—and potentially less hospitable to on-air critics like Colbert or Jon Stewart. Colbert wasn’t having it.
“Some of the TV tappers out there are blogging that once Skydance gets CBS, the new owners’ desire to please Trump will ‘put pressure on late-night host and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert,’” he said, before stroking his new mustache. “Okay, okay, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert… if they can’t find him?”
Watch Colbert’s complete comments at the top of this post.
