Brendan Carr, President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair, mocked critics of Paramount and CBS over the network’s decision to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“The partisan left’s ritualist wailing and gnashing of teeth over Colbert is quite revealing,” Carr, who posts frequently on social media, wrote Tuesday on the social platform X. “They’re acting like they’re losing a loyal [Democratic National Committee] spokesperson that was entitled to an exemption from the laws of economics.”
CBS said as it announced the show’s cancellation last week the decision was a financial one, and subsequent news reports have suggested the show was losing upward of $40 million per year.
Paramount has taken major losses on its linear broadcast assets in recent financial quarters and is currently trying to push through a multibillion-dollar merger with moviemaker Skydance.
Colbert’s cancellation came just days after Paramount agreed to pay the president’s foundation $16 million to settle a lawsuit Trump brought against CBS last year.
Democrats have alleged the company is trying to curry favor with Trump’s FCC, and some lawmakers have indicated the media conglomerate might have violated federal bribery law with its recent moves.
Colbert even called out his own network Monday evening, accusing the company of leaking financial information about the show to justify cutting him.
Carr has long been a critic of mainstream media outlets and had previously indicated the “60 Minutes” interview CBS aired with former Vice President Kamala Harris, which sparked Trump’s lawsuit, could be grounds of a news distortion complaint.
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