Leftists are reacting to the news that “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will broadcast its last episode in May 2026.

Many comments on social media responded to Colbert’s posting of a monologue on Instagram, announcing the news.

“The greatest to ever do it,” former Late Show band leader Jon Batiste wrote in reply. 

“My admiration and appreciation for you is bottomless. Excited to see what other brilliance you put into the world,” filmmaker and producer Judd Apatow said. 

“I am so upset about this. I need more information. We love you,” journalist Katie Couric wrote.

“Snow White” star Rachel Zegler also shared her thoughts, writing, “I am extremely sad. I adore you, Stephen.”

“Love you Stephen. This is absolute bulls***, and I for one am looking forward to the next 10 months of shows,” Adam Scott of “Severance” fame added.

Fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel also reacted to the news, sharing in his Instagram Stories, “Love you Stephen. F*** you and all your Sheldons CBS.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) questioned if CBS’s motives for the cancellation had anything to do with politics.

“CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump — a deal that looks like bribery,” Warren wrote in an X post. “America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”

Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) had similar suspicions. 

“Just finished taping with Stephen Colbert who announced his show was cancelled,” he wrote. “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”

The cancellation announcement marked the end of a nearly 11-year run that Colbert has had hosting “The Late Show,” which first began in 1993 under the former host, David Letterman.

The network said that it is scrapping “The Late Show” franchise and will not move on to another host after Colbert.

“We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘THE LATE SHOW’ franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television,” CBS said in a statement.

“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,” it continued.

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador called for an end to a “discriminatory” federal program that costs states millions of dollars by pushing them to go with more expensive “diverse” contractors.

In a Wednesday court filing joined by 20 states, Labrador urged a federal judge to accept a proposal from the Trump administration to end an affirmative action program that favors minority- and women-owned businesses for state infrastructure projects. The initiative, known as the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, set aside $37 billion under the Biden administration for “disadvantaged” groups. 

The program, which has been in effect since 1983, was originally challenged in September 2023 by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on behalf of two Indiana-based companies that claim they lost business opportunities based on the policy. The Biden administration fought back against the challenge, but the Trump administration has asked a judge to side with the complaint and disband the program. 

In an amicus brief, Labrador and the other plaintiffs urged Federal Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove, a George W. Bush nominee, to accept a consent decree proposed by the Trump administration that would end race and sex as components to qualify as a “disadvantaged business.” 

“This discrimination is expensive. It routinely requires States to reject the lowest bid on a project in favor of a less-efficient DBE-compliant bidder, and even when States can choose the lowest bid, the price is usually inflated because contractors have to use DBE-compliant subcontractors,” the filing says. “The DBE program wastes money on purpose. When supposedly disadvantaged entities are the lowest bidders, the program has no effect-its whole point is to force States to hire disadvantaged entities when they are not the lowest bidders.”

Labrador told The Daily Wire that the rule has cost his state at least $15.2 million over a 44-month period. In one instance, he said that Idaho had to take a $2.7 million bid instead of a $2.2 million bid. 

“This federal program has operated like a racial quota system for decades,” he said. “Federal bureaucrats forced states like Idaho to reject better bids from qualified contractors, wasting roughly $15 million in just a few years by requiring states to award a certain percentage of contracts based on race and gender instead of merit.”

A 2009 MIT study found that affirmative action in contracting can increase the cost when comparing state contracts without preferences to federal contracts with preferences. The study found that bids without preferences were at least 5.6% lower than the preferential contract. 

Other states that signed onto the legal filing include North Dakota, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and the Arizona state legislature. 

“While the Biden Administration defended this system in court, President Trump is working to restore equality under the law,” Labrador said. “My office will continue fighting any federal program that forces states to treat citizens as members of groups rather than individuals with equal constitutional rights.”