Same Stage, Different Century: CBS Silencing Truth Again
CBS has a history of cutting the mic — especially when comedy starts sounding too much like the truth.
In 1969, CBS didn’t just cancel The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour — they silenced the most fearless voice on television. The show was sharp, funny, unafraid. It skewered the Vietnam War, spotlighted civil rights, and handed the mic to dissenters like David Steinberg and Pete Seeger. It was a hit. It was a problem to “the establishment.” So CBS pulled the plug.
Flash forward to 2025. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert remains the most-watched late-night show in the country, averaging over 2.4 million viewers a night. But just three days after Colbert ripped into CBS’s parent company, Paramount, for handing Donald Trump a $16 million hush-money settlement, the show was canceled.
