Why Stephen Colbert got a standing ovation at the Emmy Awards

The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards‘ audience gave Stephen Colbert a significant show of support on Sunday, offering a standing ovation when the beloved Late Show host took to the stage. Colbert announced in July that CBS had cancelled the long-running talk show, mere days after he’d accused its parent company Paramount of paying a bribe to President Donald Trump. 

“While I have your attention, is anyone hiring?” Colbert quipped after over half a minute of cheering. “Because I’ve got 200 very well-qualified candidates with me tonight who will be available in June.”

Colbert then handed off his own resume and significantly outdated head shot to Harrison Ford, asking that he pass it on to Stephen Spielberg, before presenting the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

Colbert later returned to the Emmys stage to accept the award for Outstanding Talk Series, with The Late Show beating out The Daily Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live for the win. This time the audience didn’t just give Colbert and his crew a standing ovation, but also chanted his name.

“I want to thank CBS for giving us the privilege to be a part of the late night tradition, which I hope continues long after we’re no longer doing this show,” Colbert tactfully said in his acceptance speech. He also thanked his crew and his family, and dedicated the award to his parents, in-laws, and Amy Cole, his longtime executive assistant who passed away last March.

“Ten years ago in September of 2015, Spike Jones stopped by my office and said, ‘Hey, what do you want this show to be about?'” Colbert said. “And I said, ‘Ah, Spike, I don’t know how you could do it, but I’d kind of like to do a late night show, you know, a late night comedy show that was about love.’

“And I don’t know if I ever figured that out, but at a certain point — and you can guess what that point was — I realized that in some ways we were doing a late night comedy show about loss. And that’s related to love, because sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it. And 10 years later in September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. 

“God bless America. Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor!”

CBS’ decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was swiftly criticised by numerous other celebrities and late show hosts after it was announced in July. Social media users also expressed skepticism regarding CBS’ claim that the cancellation was “purely a financial decision” and “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount.”

This appeared to be a reference to Paramount’s then ongoing attempts to secure the Trump administration’s approval for a proposed merger with Skydance Media — efforts that some speculate may have coloured its recent decisions. 

In early July, Paramount agreed it would pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit in which he claimed they’d deceptively edited a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to be favourable to her leading into November’s presidential election. Paramount had previously called the lawsuit “completely without merit,” making its capitulation appear highly suspect to many.

One such person Colbert himself, who has long been a vocal critic of Trump and who called out the settlement as a bribe. Trump subsequently responded to news of the Late Show‘s cancellation by stating that he “absolutely love[ed] that Colbert got fired,” and calling for other late shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live to be cancelled next. The Trump administration approved the Skydance/Paramount merger one week after the Late Show‘s cancellation was announced.