Is the Cancelations of The Late Show Considered a Breach of Free Speech Rights?

One of America’s most popular shows, “The Late Night Show With Stephen Colbert”, is being cancelled by CBS and its parent company, Paramount Global. CBS claims that the cancellation was entirely based on their financial situation and did not involve any of the show’s performance. However, this show has been active since 1993, nominated over 30 times for an Emmy award, and has been in first place since 2017. Therefore, considering all these achievements, how could their financial situation be the only reason for their cancellation? Since their economic circumstances couldn’t have been the only reason for the discontinuation, I believe that it was also a breach of free speech rights.

Firstly, this show is highly watched and popular, with many fans enjoying the comedic skits and interviews with celebrities on honest personal opinions. The show progressed well throughout the years and did not seem to have any significant financial problems. So, the cancellation might be linked to censorship and CBS’s opposition to their show’s opinions and comedic, political performances. If we examine the timing of the discontinuation, it was around the time after Colbert criticized Paramount about its $16 million settlement with Donald Trump. He said, “As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I’m offended. I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company. But just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help,” along with more comments regarding the situation. It can’t be a coincidence that the show was cancelled not long after his personal remarks on his parent company.

If the disapproval of this one act was the reason CBS shut down The Late Show, it is still restricting one’s free speech rights. Since Colbert was only expressing his opinions on this specific situation, it is certainly not acceptable restricting our free speech opportunities.