Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) is outraged that CBS has decided to cancel its failing “Late Show” hosted by leftist Stephen Colbert that reportedly loses the network over $40 million annually, and is petitioning the corporation to keep the show on air.
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Rep. Pingree sent an email to her supporters, urging them to sign her petition begging CBS not to cancel Colbert’s show, and suggesting that the cancellation was the result of political pressure and poses a threat to freedom of the press.
“This isn’t just about late-night TV. It’s about freedom of the press, corporate influence over public discourse, and a dangerous precedent where political pressure silences dissent,” Maine’s First District Congresswoman said.
“If this goes unchallenged, we know it won’t stop with Colbert. That’s why we’re teaming up with our progressive allies to gather 250,000 signatures demanding CBS reverse course, and we’re closing in fast,” she added.
The congresswoman appeared to suggest that President Donald Trump was the real deciding factor behind the cancellation, rather than executives at CBS ending a show with declining ratings, and claimed that the petition would send a message to the president’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.
“We won’t let Trump and giant media conglomerates decide who’s allowed to speak and tell the truth,” said Pingree.
Despite Pingree’s suggestion, CBS claimed that “this 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.”
According to recent viewership data, Colbert’s show averaged 2.42 million per episode in the first quarter of 2025, and was the most viewed show of its kind, raising concerns for other left-wing late-night hosts who were apparently less successful than a man losing his network $40 annually. Of Colbert’s 2.42 million average viewers, only 219,000 fell within the key 18-49-year-old demographic.
Colbert’s show reportedly had an average viewership age of 68, placing the 70-year-old Pingree directly in its target demographic.
CBS appears unlikely to reverse course on cancelling its failing show, and saving $40 million per year, because on Pingree’s petition — whether or not it reaches its goal of a quarter million signatures.
