Famously woke TV star's very surprising take on Steven Colbert's firing after star was axed over losing $40m a year

Daily Mail​

9 hours ago

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann has cast doubt on theories that CBS' decision to cancel 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' was politically motivated, due to the comic still having ten months left on the air.
'Also, no, I'm sorry, it does not fit the narrative, but Stephen Colbert was not fired because of Trump,' Olbermann, more than a decade after his own MSNBC ouster, said in a video posted to both X and Bluesky late Sunday.
'Do not give Trump credit for that,' he added.
'They may make it look like it is to please Trump but the economic factors are far more significant than anything else,' the ex-Countdown with Keith Olbermann anchor explained.
He said there was 'one unanswerable reason' that proved Colbert was not fired because of the conservative and CBS parent Paramount's long-in-limbo sale to Skydance Media that requires federal approval.
'We've seen this before, you've just forgotten that it happened,' Olbermann, 66, added - alluding to MSNBC's cancellation of Phil Donahue's 'Donahue' in 2002 for what ended up being low viewership.
At the time, however, an internal memo leaked to the press stating execs' desire for Donahue to be fired for his opposition to the the US invasion of Iraq, fueling speculation the newsman's firing was for other reasons.
Drawing parallels that appeared to suggest CBS is playing a PR game, Olbermann, 66, pointed to Colbert's show's astonishing lack of profitability.
THANKS, TRUMP!
THE TRUMPSTEIN SCANDAL will now never die - because you sued Rupert, you moron
And, sorry, no, there's one inarguable fact that proves Colbert WASN'T cancelled to appease Trump
GET THE NEW COUNTDOWN PODCAST: https://t.co/i7iBXBS9AC pic.twitter.com/CIvIWjPqsz
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) July 21, 2025
It was pegged this past Friday as being somewhere in the ballpark of negative $40million annually by Puck journalist Matthew Belloni, after ten years on the air.
'If they are silencing him, why have they decided to keep him on TV for the next ten months?' Olbermann asked on the Monday edition of his podcast, which bears the same name as his old MSNBC show that aired from 2003 to 2011.
'This is the Phil Donahue cancellation all over again. It works to CBS's corporate advantage to make it look like they are sucking up to the psycho,' he continued, suggesting C-Suiters back then purposely leaked the correspondence at a time where opposition to the budding was was not very popular.
'Sorry. This is the least of the reasons,' Olbermann added, putting to bed what he put as 'the almost-universally accepted premise that CBS cancelled Stephen Colbert solely to appease Trump.'
'I understand this busts the narrative and reduces our ability to suffer as martyrs,' he said Monday.
'Sorry. That's not what happened here,' he said in a separate Twitter post over the weekend. 'If it had, they wouldn't be keeping him on until next MAY.'
Olbermann offered his opinion as politicians like Senator Elizabeth Warren continue to question whether CBS's decision to cancel 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ' was at all linked to Paramount Global's merger with Skydance Media
Colbert, 61, is one the most prominent of critics of the conservative, even amongst a crowded field of left-leaning late night hosts.
He is also at the top of that heap ratings-wise, making his ouster seemingly sudden - and to some, uncalled for.
The fact he took a swipe at his Paramount bosses on-air - for accepting what he presented as a 'big fat bribe' from the administration - just days ago further fueled the speculation.
The parties reached a $16 million settlement in a suit filed by Trump earlier this month - a sum only slightly more than the $15 million Colbert is said to earn annually.
In his piece for Puck Belloni outlined how The Late Show - which costs $100m a year to produce - has seen its advertiser revenue slump drastically even in the last three years, making it harder to pull Colbert's show out of the red.
Late night shows in general have slumped in profitability as viewers shun the format in favor of streaming services or other means of media.
Colbert was reported to be 'not angry, actually' about news of his cancelation, Puck reported - revealing how the host was chatting with his staff in a 'matter-of-fact' way before Thursday's show, shortly after finding out himself.
Moreover, Paramount co-C.E.O. George Cheeks was reportedly the one to pull the trigger on the cancellation - not Skydance CEO David Ellison or the former NBCU exec to serve as the new company's CEO once the merger is finished, Jeff Shell.
Trump, meanwhile, celebrated the news of the show's cancellation last week as it spread, furthering the idea he played a part.
'Sorry. That's not what happened here,' Olbermann wrote in a separate Twitter post over the weekend. 'If it had, they wouldn't be keeping him on until next MAY'
'I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings," he wrote in a Friday Truth Social post.
'I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert.'
Colbert holds the top spot in his hour, with an average of 2.417 million across 41 first-run episodes. Colbert took over as host in September 2015, after Letterman launched the program in 1993.
Second-best Jimmy Kimmel Live! takes in an average of 1.772 million viewers, for reference.
As for Olbermann, he left MSNBC in 2011, months after a scandal that saw him suspended for donating money to Democratic candidates who would go on to appear on his show.
The following January, Olbermann announced his departure from the network, which said in a statement that it had ended its contract with Olbermann. No further explanation was offered.