CBS will end "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and retire "The Late Show" franchise in May 2026, the company announced Thursday.

The news came shortly after Colbert spoke against CBS’s parent company, Paramount, for agreeing to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes segment. While many suspected the president was behind the firing, he denied the claim, taking to his Truth Social, where he wrote:

David Letterman delivered a fiery rant against CBS and parent company Paramount for cancelling Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” calling the decision “gutless” and “pure cowardice” as he labeled his successor a martyr of the network.

David Letterman has finally given his opinion on the cancelation of The Late Show – the franchise that he founded.

David Letterman took aim at his former employer, CBS, over the cancellation of 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Speaking with his former executive producer, Barbara Gaines, in a YouTube video Friday, Letterman called the axing of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert “pure cowardice” and said he doesn’t believe the official line from CBS that the decision was purely about economics (the show has reportedly become a money-loser for the network).

"It isn’t the end of Colbert," Galloway wrote. "It’s the end of late-night TV. Colbert’s Late Show reportedly has been losing more than $40 million a year for CBS, with a budget of $100 million per season and about 200 employees." Galloway compared those economics to those of his own company.

When it comes to late-night television, Seth Meyers knows the future is largely out of your control. Meyers, who has hosted “Late Night” on NBC for over a decade, spoke on this week’s episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast about dealing with the uncertainty that comes with hosting a program.