David Letterman Slams CBS Bosses as ‘Lying Weasels’ Over ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ Axing

David Letterman isn’t buying what CBS is selling.

The late-night legend unloaded on his old network in a blistering new interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, May 5, accusing them of fabricating the reason behind The Late Show‘s cancellation.

Letterman, 79, said he believes Stephen Colbert wasn’t axed over money — despite CBS publicly calling the decision “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” Instead, Letterman pointed the finger directly at Skydance, the entertainment company that merged with CBS parent Paramount.

“He was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, ‘Oh no, there’s not going to be any trouble with that guy,'” Letterman alleged of Colbert, 61.

“I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying,” Letterman told the Times, according to the article. “They’re lying weasels.”

And he wasn’t done. Letterman also took aim at Skydance CEO David Ellison, son of billionaire Larry Ellison, calling him someone who was “willy-nilly spending the old man’s money.”

“To hell with CBS. To hell with Skydance,” Letterman said in the interview.

CBS fired back through a spokesperson, telling the outlet that the cancellation was “unequivocally a financial decision.”

But the timing has always raised eyebrows. The network pulled the plug on The Late Show in July 2025 — just days after Colbert ripped Paramount on air for its $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over an edited 60 Minutes interview.

Letterman is a late-night institution who hosted NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman from 1982 to 1993 before jumping to CBS, where he launched The Late Show and held the desk for 22 years until his retirement in 2015.

Despite his fury, Letterman expressed sympathy for the format he helped define, predicting traditional late-night talk shows may not survive much longer.

“I would be surprised if it lasts more than a year or so,” he admitted to The New York Times, though he added, “I don’t think it’ll ever go away because it’s just the best. It’s humans talking to humans.”

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs its final episode Thursday, May 21 on CBS.