Stephen Colbert’s Firing, the Demise of Laughter at the Hands of Tyrants

Today is a sad day for America and American democracy. Today is Stephen Colbert’s last day hosting The Late Show. Humor and Satire are so important for spiritual survival, especially in a time of rising authoritarianism. Laughing at the emperor with no clothes is part of both resistance and survival.

I will personally miss Colbert’s ability to lead us to do just that on a daily basis. We lament, and we grieve—but there are also lessons to learn at a moment like this.

We are being robbed of wholesome humor and laughter by the president of the United States, along with his countless enablers, including 99% of the Republicans in Congress and many corporate titans who have abandoned their conscience in favor of unbridled capitalism.

A society that censures its artists, including jesters who poke fun at the powerful, is sick and slipping beyond democracy.

Art is part and parcel of the prophet’s repertoire. Walter Bruggemann talks about the “prophetic imagination,” and Thomas Aquinas writes of how metaphors and symbols are essential to prophets. To silence artists is to silence prophets.

We are losing one of the genuine artists of satire at his prime in America today.

Why is Stephen Colbert leaving the air? Malignant narcissists lack a sense of humor, and tyrants, as Aquinas teaches, are “more afraid of good people than of bad people.”

Colbert did not choose to quit. He leaves because big capitalism, i.e. Paramount, CBS’s owner, sought a lucrative merger and Trump had filed a frivolous lawsuit against CBS’ “60 Minutes” program. Paramount could have easily won the lawsuit, but instead offered Trump $16 million.

Colbert dared to call it on air what it was—“a big fat bribe.” A few days later, Colbert was fired. One week later the $8 billion merger of Paramount with Skydance was approved by Trump’s FCC. Trump said, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired….I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”

CBS came up with the story that The Late Show was losing $40 million per year, which Robert Reich calls “utter bullsh*t.” David Letterman, who preceded Colbert in the Late Show, and retired when he felt like it, said about CBS: “They’re lying. They’re lying weasels.”

Trump disliked Colbert for getting people to laugh at him over the years. Paramount’s new owners, billionaires Larry and David Ellison, are MAGA. Reich ends his article on Colbert by calling him “one of the nation’s funniest and most courageous, truthful, and gentlemanly critics of Trump and his lawless regime. Our society and democracy will be the worse for it.”*

Courier, an independent news organization, summarizes the story this way: This is the part the corporate press still won’t say plainly: legacy media is being bought, bullied, and bent into shape by an authoritarian president and the billionaires who own the airwaves.**

The problem is that they don’t own the airwaves. The airwaves belong to all of us, just like the air does. But neither billionaire owners nor big capitalism want to acknowledge that. They want to pretend they own the airwaves because they own the politicians and SCOTUS and yearn to own more. As Aquinas warned, “avarice has no limits and tends toward infinity.”

A pattern is clear: ABC paid Trump $15 million to settle a pseudo lawsuit; Jeff Bezos killed the Washington Post’s endorsement of Harris; Sinclair and Nexstar pulled Kimmel off the air for one monologue. “What’s left is propaganda dressed up as news,” warns Couriers.

Thank you, Stephen Colbert, for your courage and conscience and craft of making us laugh. May we remain resilient and continue to resist tyrants and media deficient in conscience.

*Robert Reich, “Farewell and Thank You, Stephen Colbert,” Robert Reich Substack, May 19, 2026.

**Colbert’s finale is Thursday. The bribe worked. Courier Newsroom, May 19, 2026

Banner Image: Soon to go dark: the historic Ed Sullivan Theatre with Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show on the marquee. Photo by Ajay Suresh on Flickr.

Queries for Contemplation

Will you miss Stephen Colbert? If so, why? What lessons do you take from this moment of attack by the powerful on artists who get us to laugh? How will you be strengthened to continue to resist and remain resilient in the process?

Related Readings by Matthew Fox

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality

The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice

Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations

Sins of the Spirit, Blessing of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society

Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ

Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision For a New Generation