The Writers Guild of America is urging New York state prosecutors to open an investigation into CBS’s abrupt decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” shortly after its host criticized the network’s recent settlement with President Donald Trump.
Colbert on Tuesday called the $16 million settlement “a big fat bribe,” given that Trump oversees the Federal Communications Commission. The owners of CBS’s parent company, Paramount, need that agency to approve a merger that would reportedly personally benefit them.
CBS and Paramount agreed to settle with Trump earlier this month over a lawsuit he brought against the long-running news program “60 Minutes,” instead of demanding the case go to trial — even though Trump’s claim had little to stand on.
“Given Paramount’s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that ‘The Late Show’s’ cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval,” the Writers Guild of America’s East and West branches said in a joint statement issued Friday. (HuffPost’s unionized staff are part of the Writers Guild of America East.)
Since the White House press office selected reporters from five pro-Trump, partisan news outlets to ask...
