CBS canceled Stephen Colbert's late night show last week. By not appreciating, defending and nurturing The Late Show Paramount is muzzling its best voices, and diluting its own broadcast future.

Kicking off Monday’s show with a joke about Trump wanting to change the name of the Washington Commanders NFL team (the “Washington Epsteins,” Colbert suggested), he walked into the Ed Sullivan Theater to loud cheers and said “This is going to be fun.” It certainly was.

Stephen Colbert announced at the Thursday evening taping of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” that his show would be canceled at the end of the season.

Sitting behind the desk Jon Stewart made famous, comedian Josh Johnson brought a fresh face to "The Daily Show" at a perilous moment for late-night.

“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,” it noted (see full statement below).

Show' host's comments came shortly before it was announced that CBS has canceled 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.'

The cancellation from CBS comes in the aftermath of Colbert criticizing his parent company on-air for their $16 million settlement with Trump