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\u201cLate Show<\/a>\u201d host Stephen Colbert<\/a> on Tuesday revealed the date of his final episode: Thursday, May 21. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Colbert didn\u2019t make the announcement on his own program, but instead went to a rival network<\/a> with the news, LateNighter first reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt feels real now,\u201d Colbert<\/a> told Seth Meyers<\/a>, host of \u201cLate Night\u201d on NBC. \u201cI\u2019m not thrilled with it.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last summer, CBS announced<\/a> that \u201cThe Late Show\u201d would be canceled in May 2026, but did not reveal a specific date. The company insisted the move was \u201cpurely a financial decision,\u201d but it came as parent corporation Paramount was attempting to complete a merger that required FCC approval.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n With the merger in the air, Paramount agreed to pay Donald Trump $16 million<\/a> to settle a lawsuit most legal observers believed to be without merit<\/a>, and also canceled Colbert\u2019s show, something the president<\/a> had long demanded<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The merger was approved a short time later, causing many \u2015 even some of Colbert\u2019s rivals \u2015 to doubt the company\u2019s reasoning. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jimmy Kimmel<\/a>, for example, said he didn\u2019t believe<\/a> the company\u2019s claim that \u201cThe Late Show\u201d was losing $40 million a year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI know how finances of late-night television shows work, and it\u2019s just ridiculous. It doesn\u2019t make any sense at all,\u201d Kimmel said on Ted Danson\u2019s \u201cWhere Everybody Knows Your Name<\/a>\u201d podcast. \u201cSo, when you hear things that are obviously lies, you have to assume that there are more lies behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n