The world of late-night has been on a roller coaster in the past few months. Back in July, CBS suddenly canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, setting Stephen Colbert‘s final show for May 2026 after over 10 years on the network. And, as fans continued to come to terms with the news, fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was abruptly suspended from Jimmy Kimmel Live! on September 17 for comments about Republican political activist, Charlie Kirk.

Then, on September 22, less than a week later, ABC officially reinstated Kimmel on the air. But is the drama surrounding late-night hosts and major networks far from over?

Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension Had a Bigger Impact Than ABC Imagined

To understand what happened with Kimmel’s suspension, let’s backtrack. Kimmel was taken off the air following his comments on the death of Charlie Kirk. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said in his monologue on September 15.

Following the show, FCC chairman Brendan Carr threatened affiliate broadcast licenses if they did not “take action” against the talk show host. Soon after, Disney’s ABC caved and suspended Kimmel. “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson told CNN at the time.

After the decision, however, celebrities and the public alike took action. To them, Kimmel’s suspension was a sign of censorship and went against the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin released a statement not long after Kimmel’s suspension, saying that the guild “condemns” ABC’s decision to take Kimmel off the air. Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof followed suit, admitting that he will never do any more work for the studio until Kimmel is reinstated. Sex and the City alum Cynthia Nixon took to Instagram to share that she had canceled her Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions. “They asked me why, I hit ‘other’ and wrote: Because I believe in the First Amendment. Reinstate Jimmy Kimmel, now,” Nixon said.

In addition to the individual celebrities speaking out, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a letter on September 22 condemning Disney’s suspension, with over 400 celebrities behind it. “Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after the government threatened a private company with retaliation, marking a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation,” the letter states. “This is the moment to defend free speech across our nation,” the letter concludes. Some of the signatories include Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Selena Gomez, Tom Hanks, Olivia Rodrigo, Ben Stiller, Jamie Lee Curtis and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

The public also made an impact. On social media, countless X and Instagram users shared that they had officially canceled their Hulu and Disney+ subscriptions as a form of protest. And while the data on those cancellations isn’t publicly available, Newsweek stated that the Walt Disney Company saw its stock fall 0.67% last week following Kimmel’s suspension. All in all, it’s safe to say ABC couldn’t have predicted the firestorm that followed Kimmel’s suspension. It was only a matter of days (five of them, to be precise) until they came back and reassessed the decision.

Why Was Stephen Colbert Canceled?

But now that the world has made some noise and forced ABC to listen and reinstate Kimmel, could Colbert’s cancellation be reversed too? Unfortunately, Colbert’s situation has been quite different since the beginning. In fact, the stated reason for Colbert’s exit was financial, and not related to anything he said, despite his constant criticisms of Donald Trump and his presidency. In a statement by three of Paramount and CBS’s biggest executives on July 17, they clarified that the decision had “nothing to do with the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” In fact, the decision was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

CBS Chair of TV Media George Cheeks also doubled down on the reason. “We are huge fans of Colbert, we love the show,” Cheeks said in a press conference. “Unfortunately, the economics made it a challenge for us to keep going.”

The timing of the cancellation, however, was notable. The news came just days after Colbert criticized a $16 million settlement between Trump and Paramount Global, parent company of CBS, over a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. On his July 13 show, Colbert joked he was “offended” by the settlement and called it a “big fat bribe.” Then, days after, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved an $8 billion deal that merged Paramount Global with Skydance Media.

But, timing aside, Colbert was complimentary toward Paramount when he announced his show’s cancellation. “I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners,” Colbert said, before thanking CBS, his fans, his band, and his 200+ staff members. From that, it seems Colbert and Paramount are on good terms, and that the decision to cancel the show was truly practical, not personal.

Could Stephen Colbert Get a Second Chance?

From the looks of it, the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is final. In fact, Colbert even joked about it while reacting to Kimmel’s suspension being lifted. “Now that Jimmy’s not being canceled, I get to enjoy this again,” he said on September 22, holding up his latest Emmy. “Once more, I am the only martyr in late-night!” “Wait, unless … CBS, you want to announce anything?” he teased to the camera. “Still no? Right, because of the money thing, I forgot.” While Colbert continues to be lighthearted about the news, it seems there’s no going back on CBS’s decision.

After all, if financials were truly the deciding factor in Colbert’s cancellation, there’s little the public or celebrities can do to change its future. Instead, all of Colbert’s friends and fans can do is simply enjoy his last nine months on the air as a late-night host.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is back Tuesday, September 23, on ABC, and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 pm ET on CBS.