06/17/2026
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BREAKING: Stephen Colbert Sticks CBS With the Bill on His Way Out the Door
Stephen Colbert didn't just leave CBS with a wave and a smile. He left them with an invoice.
On the finale of The Late Show, Colbert's house band played "Linus and Lucy," the beloved Peanuts theme, during a segment where Colbert openly joked about the song's famously aggressive copyright enforcement. "Oh no!" he quipped on air. "I hope this doesn't cost CBS any money!"
It did.
CBS has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to Lee Mendelson Film Productions, which holds the rights to the Vince Guaraldi composition. The licensing deal was apparently pre-planned, with the proceeds directed to Chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen, a humanitarian organization that provides meals to people caught in natural disasters and armed conflicts around the globe.
It was Colbert's second major parting gift to the charity. Just one episode earlier, he had donated $2.5 million to WCK during what turned out to be his second-to-last broadcast.
The whole setup was vintage Colbert: funny on the surface, and a pointed statement underneath. CBS and its parent company Paramount had canceled The Late Show days after Colbert publicly called out Paramount for "bribing" Trump, a reference to the $16.5 million settlement paid to resolve Trump's lawsuit against 60 Minutes. Paramount, in the middle of a merger that required approval from the Trump administration, insisted the cancellation was "purely financial."
Colbert has been measured in his public comments since the axing, acknowledging only that "something changed" with the network, despite having recently been asked to sign a new long-term deal. But the finale made the message clear enough without him having to say a word.
Lee Mendelson Film Productions Chairman Jason Mendelson said the company found Colbert's use of the song "funny and entertaining" and was proud to back World Central Kitchen through the settlement.
As one social media user put it after the news broke: "When your last 'F--- you' feeds people."
That's Stephen Colbert. Even on the way out, he found a way to do some good and make CBS foot the bill for it.
