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DS's avatar

Authoritarians cannot abide being made fun of, mocked, laughed at etc, especially by the truly witty and incisive, like Stephen Colbert. Appeasement never works with dictators, it only makes them more powerful, as they thrive on fear. Hopefully Colbert will land elsewhere and continue his skewering of the mad would-be-king. In the meantime, I’ve cut my own ties with Paramount and canceled my subscription and will not be supporting CBS in any way.

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Steve 218's avatar

CBS buckled on 60 Minutes, they've now ended Colbert. What's next on the hit list, the CBS Evening News? Walter Cronkite and the crew from back then would never have believed it.

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LHS's avatar

The CBS Ministry of Truth is busy erasing Walter Cronkite from history as we speak!

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Steve 218's avatar

Murrow, Severeid, Kalb, Kurault, Donaldson, and the rest are just as erased. I used Cronkite as an example. Scott Pelly will likely be dispatched presently as well.

Ever since broadcasts went digital, the local carrier (KMOV-4 St. Louis) has provided dodgy reception. No need to diagnose and correct the problem now.

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Sylvia Young's avatar

I am deeply grateful for this detailed tale of the courage of Colbert and other comedians who have shown up clearly and boldly speaking truth to power, and the shocking , corrupt collusion between administration and corporate powers.i am not surprised but shocked, and look forward to another year of my favorite comedic therapist ! And wherever he shows up after next June.

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Gil Katen's avatar

Or. Some similar MAGA clone

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willoughby's avatar

Skydance CEO David Ellison's father, Trumpista tech billionaire and ardent 2020 election denialist Larry Ellison---who supports the right wing project to the extent that he also once provided Elon Musk with a billion dollars as Musk moved to acquire Twitter and transform it into a conduit for the vilest right-wing viewpoints--gave his son $6 billion to fund the Skydance/Paramount deal.

Both Ellisons appear to be committed to transforming the country the billionaires' way--by buying up the national discourse. David Ellison's prospective control of CBS News could be transformative indeed, especially in 2026, a key election year, when whatever pro-Republican spin may dominate during the CBS morning show and the nightly news, there will no longer be a countervailing late-night voice of independence or gentle mockery or basic fact-checking.

Stephen Colbert's firing--received with great glee by Republicans in general and Mr. Trump in particular---was announced on the eve of a meeting between David Ellison and Mr. Trump's FCC Chair, Brendan Carr, who will have the final say as to whether the Skydance/Paramount merger goes through.

The firing has the feel of a sort of promissory note: a commitment by the younger Ellison (and his predecessor, heiress Shari Redstone) to create a CBS that will serve the interests Brendan Carr wants served.

Mr. Carr is, of course, no friend of First Amendment freedoms, including, or perhaps especially, the freedom of the press. He is notoriously hostile to news outlets he regards as in any way "liberal"--a definition that has come to include any critical or objective coverage of Mr. Trump and the Republican project.

His meeting with young Ellison, coming the day after Colbert's firing, is said to have been most cordial. It's very likely Mr. Carr will approve the merger, and David Ellison will get a new toy to play with.

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Jim Carmichael's avatar

Well, Zelensky started as a comedian, too, so maybe Colbert has a future as a leader of the resistance!

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LHS's avatar

I just wrote something similar! 😊

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Judy Horne's avatar

I am hoping the very same thing, too!

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Steve 218's avatar

Stephen Colbert gets an Emmy on Tuesday and a pink slip on Thursday. Corporate media is nothing more than cowardly not to keep the best program on CBS on the air. The network has little enough to offer, and now will offer even less. A network that will cancel a good program to curry favor with an authoritarian fascist will have no trust to present neutral and honest news. May Mr. Colbert land somewhere else where we can still get his thoughts and words.

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That's What She Said's avatar

I wonder who crafted CBS's statement, Bondi or Leavitt? It has the ring of both!

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Arkansas Blue's avatar

Actually, it was the great Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

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Judy Horne's avatar

I agree, fellow Arkie, Arkansas Blue. I am ashamed of our trump-wannabe guv. How do we get the people of our state to realize she is spending a lot of time and OUR taxpayer dollars doing trumpie stuff instead of devoting every moment to solving our poor state's many, many problems?

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Arkansas Blue's avatar

Oh hi, fellow Arkie, welcome.

Unfortunately, there are too many ignorant/uninterested idiots in this state. If this orange felon/Huckabee princess don't change their minds, I don't know what will.

At the moment, the only things giving me hope are the protests with many, many young people at the "No kings day" and the increased national exposure of Chris Jones.

My fingers are going to start bleeding from writing emails to French (what kind of a first name is that?) Hill, Cotton and Boozeman. The only responses I've gotten so far were from Frenchie, typical bullshit in-your-face-lies and one time I received a response thanking me for my concern on the Iran bombing. I had never written to him about the Iran bombing, always on him not doing his job or voting for the big ugly bill. But that just goes along with him not showing up at the town hall held for him.

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David Miller's avatar

Yup. Boycotting CBS. And their advertisers.

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John Warren's avatar

I urge you all to do as I have done this afternoon, and cancel your Paramount subscriptions. CBS will learn that we will not forget this act of cowardice - not ever. The brand is forever sullied, just as Tesla is.

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Martian2024's avatar

What a shameful decision for CBS! Lame excuse, who’s going to buy it? I really hope that Colbert will go somewhere else to keep his healthy criticism that keeps not only Americans but the whole world uplifted. Reading the news is overwhelming most of the time, he and his authors are doing the best job ever! Go Stephen go! ❤️ 🇨🇦 CBS 👎⚡️

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Nan Reiner's avatar

We no longer have reputable or honorable "legacy" media in either traditional broadcast, cable, or print formats. What used to be The Fourth Estate is now controlled by the Corporate Right. New sources and methods, accessible nationwide at little or no cost, are desperately needed. Democracy demands a truthfully informed public.

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Suze H's avatar

Stephen Colbert will go on to be Trump’s worst nightmare!!!

And if they add Jon Stewart….. Watch out!

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Eric Kruse's avatar

It's going to be interesting to see how much pressure the network puts on Colbert to tone down his monologues for the next 10 months or if CBS pulls the plug early because he won't.

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Erika Washburn's avatar

Colbert should launch a bid for the White House. Immediately.

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Hal Brindley's avatar

Wow. Big money works against us regular folks again All of our politicians are bought and sold by corporate America

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Mary Beth Kidd's avatar

Broadcast television has become irrelevant. Late night now— and the others will fall too — but it’s no longer the source of news and entertainment that it had been.

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Nan Reiner's avatar

Unfortunately, the cable channels that once were allowed to be semi-independent are also owned by the same corporate right-wing conglomerates.

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Susan's avatar

Meidas Touch publicly offered him an opportunity this morning.

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