Fox News’s Gutfeld! topped the late-night ratings this week, even after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert saw a bump in viewership since Colbert announced the show’s cancellation.
Colbert’s show attracted an average of 1.9 million total viewers. In the week since the show was confirmed to end in May 2026, viewership bumped up to 2.4 million according to Nielsen ratings.
Still, this bump wasn’t enough to beat Gutfeld!, which saw a 3.1 million viewers tune in this week. Almost 400,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 chose Greg Gutfeld over Colbert. The Late Show reported less than 300,000 viewers within this demographic.
This past week, protesters gathered outside of the CBS studio in New York City to demonstrate against the show’s cancellation. Protester’s signs read: “Colbert stays! Trump must go!” and “Honk if you think we should cancel DTS s*** show.”
As of Sunday afternoon, over 258,000 people signed a petition to keep The Late Show on television with Colbert as its host.
CBS explained canceling the Late Show was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” The show cost $100 million to produce on an annual basis since Colbert took over in 2015.
“It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount,” CBS claimed, referring to its merger with Skydance and recent settlement with President Donald Trump to the tune of $16 million.
STEPHEN COLBERT SHOULD BE FIRED NOW. HERE’S WHY
Following the news of the settlement, Colbert lambasted his employer for bending the knee to a lawsuit from the president that was “completely without merit.” Trump sued the network over edits made to a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris during her presidential campaign. Colbert claimed to be “offended” at the settlement.
President Donald Trump celebrated rumors that late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon will be next to lose their late-night talk shows. Trump claimed both hosts have “absolutely NO TALENT” in a Truth Social post.