The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026, the CBS television network announced in a surprise statement on Thursday.

The move “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television],” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters,” CBS said.

The announcement comes just two weeks after CBS parent company Paramount settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump stemming from a CBS interview with his 2024 election rival Kamala Harris.

The move brings a close to the more than three-decade old programme, leaving the network without a late-night comedy talk show for the first time since 1993.

Host Stephen Colbert broke the news at a taping earlier on Thursday evening, triggering a chorus of boos from the live studio audience.

“I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners,” Colbert said, adding: “And of course, I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here, out there, all around the world.”

Colbert had been informed of the decision on Wednesday night, he told the audience during his Thursday monologue.

“Yeah, I share your feeling,” he said, as the crowd in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York shouted “no” and booed.

“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” he continued. “It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it.”

The Late Show was created by CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, in 1993 as a competitor to NBC. It came after a dispute between hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno over who should succeed Johnny Carson on the wildly-popular NBC’s Tonight Show.

Colbert took over the CBS programme from Letterman in 2015, and has become one of Trump’s staunchest critics on late night TV.

Before taking over the job at The Late Show, Colbert had been the host of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central – a programme which skewered American conservative politics and culture.

The announcement of the ending of the programme came amid talks between Paramount and Skydance Media to merge the two companies, a move that would require approval from the US federal government.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff posted on X on Thursday that he had finished taping an interview with Colbert just before the cancellation was announced.

He questioned whether the announcement was tied to the $16m (£12m) settlement the network agreed to pay to Trump, writing: “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserved to know”.

The settlement came after Trump sued CBS last October alleging the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party”.

Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, not paid to him “directly or indirectly”.

Colbert has been a major critic of Trump, and has hosted many Democratic politicians during his tenure as host. Last month, he held a discussion with Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist leading the race to be New York City’s next mayor.

The decision to cancel the programme comes as networks struggle to attract younger viewers, amid competition from online streamers and podcasts, along with increased costs of live television.

“We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘The Late Show’ franchise,” CBS said in its statement.

“We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”

Rival broadcast networks, ABC and NBC, will continue to air their late-night talk shows.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! will continue taping in the fall, while NBC hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers have signed contracts to continue hosting The Tonight Show and Late Night until 2028, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Reacting to the news of the end of Colbett’s show, Kimmel appeared to take aim at the network, posting on his Instagram story: “Love you Stephen. [Forget] you and all your Sheldons [a reference to the show Big Bang Theory] CBS.”

Former Late Show band leader Jon Batiste described the outgoing talk show host as “the greatest to ever do it.”

“My admiration and appreciation for you is bottomless,” wrote filmmaker Judd Apatow. “Excited to see what other brilliance you put into the world.”

“I am extremely sad. I adore you, Stephen,” offered Snow White actress Rachel Zegler.

Severance star Adam Scott added: “Love you Stephen. This is absolute bull… and I for one am looking forward to the next 10 months of shows.”

Actor and director Ben Stiller posted on X that he was “sorry to hear” CBS was “canceling one of the best shows they have.

“Wishing all the people who work so hard on that show all the best.”