Stephen Colbert gets the last laugh on CBS

Stephen Colbert gets the last laugh on CBS
CBS filed copyright notices against Colbert's viral "Only in Monroe" comeback. It backfired.

By Sophia Tesfaye
Senior Writer
Published May 27, 2026 9:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) Donald Trump prematurely took a victory lap to celebrate Stephen Colbert’s ouster from CBS. On Friday, the president posted an artificial intelligence-generated video from the official White House account featuring Trump grabbing Colbert from his late-show set and throwing him into a large dumpster while dancing to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”

“Colbert is finally finished at CBS. Amazing that he lasted so long! No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he’s finally gone!”

But less than 24 hours after signing off on his 11-year run as host of CBS’s late-night broadcast, Colbert returned for a guest appearance on “Only in Monroe,” the community access show broadcast in southeast Michigan, which he memorably hosted shortly before taking the reins of “The Late Show” from David Letterman in 2015.

....(snip)....

Over the weekend, the media giant began mass-blocking every single reupload of the “Only in Monroe” episode worldwide. The blocks targets independent, verified journalists and everyday people alike who were merely sharing a public-access broadcast.

....(snip)....

After a backlash erupted, CBS quickly retreated, announcing it would “waive further enforcement” pending additional review.

In other words: They got caught. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/27/stephen-colbert-gets-the-last-laugh-on-cbs/