Colbert gets canceled — by CBS, not conservatives
Stephen Colbert has been vaporized, canceled by CBS. Donald Trump is celebrating. Liberal Hollywood is outraged! Regular folks don't care.
Goodnight, everybody!
New ownership at CBS is looming, and Skydance Media evidently doesn’t want a leftist pep rally every night.
But not so fast. This is a fascinating story when you examine the power angle. The once-dominant network television media is completely falling apart. According to the Nielsen folks, fewer than 20% of Americans now watch any network programming. Why? Because it’s largely boring, and traditional Americans resent the liberal culture the networks embrace all day and all night. Woke on parade. Political correctness run amok.
I have a unique vantage point here. Because of my bestselling books and controversial demeanor in general, I have appeared on late-night shows an astonishing 75 times. I know all these guys and the world they inhabit.
Colbert basically committed performance suicide. When he took over for David Letterman 10 years ago, he was coming off the red-hot satire of Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” and his own “Colbert Report.” Yes, the boys were left-handed pitchers, but they tamped down the malice — at least somewhat. I had a lot of laughs debating Stewart.
Over the past five years, Stephen Colbert has lost more than one million viewers; his numbers descended to just above two million households daily. Profits crashed.
The primary reason for this runaway train is Colbert’s hatred for Trump and the MAGA brigades. Eighty million Americans voted for the president. Few of them can stomach Colbert’s schtick. Ideological zealotry at midnight can be tedious. The all-time king of late night, Johnny Carson, understood that. Old Johnny got his zingers in, but he rarely tried to demean anyone.
All the late-night hosts have talent. It’s impossible to do the job if you don't. Letterman was very quick and edgy. My debates with him are legendary, especially the one where he called me a thug but couldn’t back it up when I challenged him.
On my final appearance with Dave, his audience gave me a standing ovation.
Letterman was cranky but rarely displayed overt hatred. He invited me on 16 times and wrote me a gracious note after every appearance.
Jay Leno was essentially a stand-up comedian, not deeply invested in promoting politics. Same with Jimmy Fallon, although he understands the far-left culture at NBC. Remember the heat Fallon took when he good-naturedly messed up Donald Trump’s hair?
RELATED: Farewell to Stephen Colbert, fake laughs, and lame late-night bias
Jimmy Kimmel has drifted into the political swamp mostly because he despises the president. I like Kimmel personally. But he’d be wise to spread the satire around. ABC will be the next place to purge extremists.
My old adversary, Stewart, a brilliant talent, has also succumbed somewhat to strident presentations. Although when I sparred with him last August, the mischievous glimmer was back, at least for a night.
So Stephen Colbert leaves the CBS stage. New ownership is looming, and Skydance Media evidently doesn’t want a leftist pep rally every night. Hollywood will take care of Colbert, so we will see him again.
I bet Donald Trump can’t wait.
Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at billoreilly.com.
10 Cringiest Moments Of Stephen Colbert’s Career As An Unfunny Democrat Mouthpiece
Here is a look back at 10 times Stephen Colbert used The Late Show to brainwash viewers and peddle leftist talking points.WATCH: Joe Exotic calls in from prison to share his thoughts on the 2024 election: ‘There’s not an inmate in here shooting for Harris'
The year 2020, for all the disaster and chaos it ushered in, did give us at least one good thing: “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” — the Netflix sensation that enthralled Americans with its eccentric cast and big cat drama. The show garnered nearly 35 million views in the first 10 days after its release, but after the star of the show — Joe Exotic — went to jail for his murder-for-hire scheme, the nation largely moved on from Joseph Maldonado.
However, in 2023, Exotic somewhat re-emerged in public discourse when he announced his intentions to run for president in 2024. Although his campaign fizzled out earlier this year, he is still watching the race closely.
On the last episode of “Normal World,” Dave Landau and 1/4 Black Garrett received a phone call from none other than the Tiger King himself.
Joe Exotic Calls in to Talk Kamala Harris & Prison Reform | Ep 157youtu.be
“Were you hoping for a VP spot?” Dave asked Joe.
“I’m hoping for a cabinet position,” Exotic responded, adding that he hopes to become the “director of Fish and Wildlife.”
“Who is your favorite candidate right now, other than yourself?” Dave asked next.
“We have to get Trump in there because Harris is gonna get us killed. Her and Biden’s been in there for almost four years. ... A couple hundred military bases worldwide have been been attacked of ours and we ain't done s**t about it. We're in the middle of Ukraine; we're in the middle of Israel bulls**t. Russia, China, and Iran and ISIS and them will steamroll her. There's no way they're going to take her serious,” Exotic railed.
“Do you think it's odd that Biden just all of a sudden stepped down and out of nowhere we're being forced to kind of believe that [Kamala Harris] was always the person for the job?” asked Dave, pointing out the buzz about Kamala being a DEI hire.
“I don't think that she was always the person to run. I think [Biden] really wanted to do it himself. I think old age caught up with him a little faster than he thought it would, and I think the only reason that she is even picked to even run as the nominee is because she is black and she is a woman.”
“Look, above all else, it don't matter if you're shooting for the economy to straighten up, world peace, or whatever — all they care about is that a black woman becomes president,” Exotic explained, adding that, “in [prison], Trump has every black vote.”
“There’s not an inmate in here shooting for Harris or Biden. She spent half of her life putting black people in prison that couldn’t afford to fight the fight,” he continued, noting that Harris and Biden’s promises of “prison reform” came to naught.
“With the inmates in there, is that their biggest issue — drug reform? Or do they want prison reform more than anything?” was Dave’s follow up question.
“We live like river rats, man — the mold, the broken down facilities, the electrical problems. We have 300 [people] and 6, 7, 8 toilets ... The food is pathetic, the medical care is pathetic,” said Exotic, adding that “there’s more drugs in here than the whole city of Wynnewood, Oklahoma.”
“When I get out of here, my goal is to testify in front of Congress about what goes on in here,” he told Dave.
As for his Trump endorsement, Exotic claimed that “the best thing [he’s] ever heard come out of Trump's mouth in a long time is if he becomes president he's going to shut down the camps and the halfway houses and send everybody home because if you can qualify to go to a camp, go home and work and support your family. Quit making the taxpayers pay this bill.”
To hear more of the conversation, including where the Tiger King is at in his trial, watch the episode above.
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