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CBS is canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May, shuttering a decades-old TV institution in a changing media landscape and removing from air one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent and persistent late-night critics.

Thursday’s announcement followed Colbert’s criticism on Monday of a settlement between Trump and Paramount Global, parent company of CBS, over a “60 Minutes” story.

Colbert told his audience at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater that he had learned Wednesday night that after a decade on air, “next year will be our last season. ... It’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”

The audience responded with boos and groans.

“Yeah, I share your feelings,” the 61-year-old comic said.

Three top Paramount and CBS executives praised Colbert’s show as “a staple of the nation’s zeitgeist” in a statement that said the cancellation “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

In his Monday monologue, Colbert said he was “offended” by the $16 million settlement reached by Paramount, whose pending sale to Skydance Media needs the Trump administration’s approval. He said the technical name in legal circles for the deal was “big fat bribe.”

“I don’t know if anything — anything — will repair my trust in this company,” Colbert said. “But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”

Trump had sued Paramount Global over how “60 Minutes” edited its interview last fall with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Critics say the company settled primarily to clear a hurdle to the Skydance sale.

Colbert took over “The Late Show” in 2015 after becoming a big name in comedy and news satire working with Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” and hosting “The Colbert Report,” which riffed on right-wing talk shows.

The most recent ratings from Nielsen show Colbert gaining viewers so far this year and winning his timeslot among broadcasters, with about 2.417 million viewers across 41 new episodes. On Tuesday, Colbert’s “Late Show” landed its sixth nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding talk show. It won a Peabody Award in 2021.

David Letterman began hosting “The Late Show” in 1993. When Colbert took over, he deepened its engagement with politics. Alongside musicians and movie stars, Colbert often welcomes politicians to his couch.

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California was a guest on Thursday night. Schiff said on X that “if Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.” Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts released a similar statement.

Colbert’s counterpart on ABC, Jimmy Kimmel, posted on Instagram “Love you Stephen” and directed an expletive at CBS.

Actor and producer Jamie Lee Curtis noted in an interview in Los Angeles that the cancellation came as the House passed a bill approving Trump’s request to cut funding to public broadcasters NPR and PBS.

“They’re trying to silence people, but that won’t work. Won’t work. We will just get louder,” said Curtis, who has previously criticized Trump and is set to visit Colbert’s show in coming days.

Colbert has long targeted Trump. The guests on his very first show in September 2015 were actor George Clooney and Jeb Bush, who was then struggling in his Republican presidential primary campaign against Trump.

“Gov. Bush was the governor of Florida for eight years,” Colbert told his audience. “And you would think that that much exposure to oranges and crazy people would have prepared him for Donald Trump. Evidently not.”

Late-night TV has been facing economic pressures for years; ratings and ad revenue are down and many young viewers prefer highlights online, which networks have trouble monetizing. CBS also recently canceled host Taylor Tomlinson’s “After Midnight,” which aired after “The Late Show.”

Still, Colbert had led the network late-night competition for years. And while NBC has acknowledged economic pressures by eliminating the band on Seth Meyers’ show and cutting one night of Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show,” there had been no such visible efforts at “The Late Show.”

Colbert’s relentless criticism of Trump, his denunciation of the settlement, and the parent company’s pending sale can’t be ignored, said Bill Carter, author of “The Late Shift.”

“If CBS thinks people are just going to swallow this, they’re really deluded,” Carter said.

Andy Cohen, who began his career at CBS and now hosts “Watch What Happens Live,” said in an interview: “It is a very sad day for CBS that they are getting out of the late-night race. I mean, they are turning off the lights after the news.”

LONDON: Arms dealers linked to Yemen’s Houthi militia have been using social media platforms such as X and WhatsApp to sell weapons, according to a new report.

The Tech Transparency Project, or TTP, identified hundreds of accounts openly dealing in rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and other military-grade equipment, in apparent violation of the platforms’ policies.

“X and WhatsApp are providing an essential platform to Houthi-linked arms dealers selling weapons of war,” the report read. “The companies have policies in place that prohibit that kind of illicit trade but are allowing it to take place in the open.”

TTP called the activity “a threat to US national security interests,” noting the Iran-backed group is designated as a terrorist organization.

The months-long investigation by the Washington-based watchdog, which monitors accountability in Big Tech, found that Houthi-affiliated arms dealers had been running commercial weapons stores on both platforms for months, and in some cases, years.

This account offered a Soviet rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a collection of Turkish-made M4 carbine clones. (TTP/File)

One account posted multiple offers of AK-47s. (TTP/File)

Some of the arms trader accounts had a “professional category” listed in their X profiles. (TTP/File)

This account posted a photo of Soviet rocket-propelled grenade launcher and said it was available for 7,000 Saudi riyals (about $1,800). (TTP/File)

Researchers identified at least 130 Yemen-based X accounts and 67 WhatsApp business accounts advertising military-grade equipment or promoting catalogues of guns for sale. These included US-manufactured weapons — some marked “Property of US Govt” — and other Western arms labeled with “NATO.”

In one instance, a seller listed four M4 carbines — an assault rifle used by the US military and manufactured by FN Herstal and Colt — and directed buyers to WhatsApp. Another account offered a package deal that included a ballistic helmet, night-vision goggles and grenades.

Russian weapons, including RPG-7 launchers and AK-47s, also featured prominently. A Soviet RPG-7 was offered for about $1,800, while another account advertised a “zero mileage” Russian AK-47.

Prices for some weapons reportedly reached $10,000, suggesting sales may be intended for other armed groups or insurgents.

Many of the accounts displayed allegiance to the Houthi, including photos of weapons in crates marked with Houthi slogans such as “Death to America, death to Israel.”

The emblem states “God is great, Death to America, death to Israel, damnation to the Jews, victory to Islam.” (TTP/File)

This Yemen-based account posted about an M4 carbine for sale with a ballistic helmet, night-vision goggles, and other accessories for $10,000. It was also marked “PROPERTY OF U.S. GOVT.” (TTP/File)

This account offered an M6 rifle stamped with “LWRC International” and “5.56mm NATO.This account offered an M6 rifle stamped with “LWRC International” and “5.56mm NATO.” (TTP/File)

More than half of the X accounts listed Sanaa — under Houthi control for more than a decade — as their location. Many accounts funneled buyers to WhatsApp business profiles, some of which openly displayed catalogs of rifles and ammunition. A number of these were also linked to Facebook and Instagram accounts, raising further concerns over Meta’s enforcement of its firearms policies.

Meta, which owns WhatsApp, says it reviews all images submitted to product catalogs, yet researchers found little evidence of enforcement. The company said it had since removed several accounts and claimed it does not profit from this type of activity but declined to answer how the content had bypassed existing filters.

“X and WhatsApp both have policies against weapons sales but they are allowing arms traders linked to a US-designated terrorist group to traffic weapons on their platforms,” said Katie Paul, the director of TTP.

“In some cases these companies may be profiting off violations of their own policies that create risks for US national security.”

This arms trader X account linked to a WhatsApp business account with a catalog of guns and a banner photo of Mahdi al-Mashat, a top Houthi official, firing a rifle. (TTP/File)

This arms trader X account linked to a WhatsApp business account that called itself a store “for all types of weapons.” (TTP/File)

This WhatsApp business account listed four sniper rifles with scopes, with text saying “the heavy caliber has arrived.” (TTP/File)

TTP’s findings, which build on a similar August 2024 investigation by The Times, suggest most of the Houthi-linked arms dealer accounts were created or became active following mass layoffs at X and Meta that weakened enforcement capabilities. Many handles had blue ticks and were subscribed to premium services that are supposed to be moderated.

Roughly two-thirds of the accounts appear to have posted weapons content in the past six months.

“Both Meta and X have the capital, the tools and the human resources to address this problem, but they’re not doing so,” Paul said.