{"id":2436971,"date":"2026-05-29T14:04:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2436971"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:04:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:04:45","slug":"gayle-king-reportedly-played-both-sides-in-stephen-colberts-war-with-cbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/gayle-king-reportedly-played-both-sides-in-stephen-colberts-war-with-cbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Gayle King reportedly played both sides in Stephen Colbert’s war with CBS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gayle King is nothing if not resourceful, famously cozying up to garish billionaires and reality TV stars like Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez and Kris Jenner, while trying to act on \u201cCBS Mornings\u201d like she cares about the struggles of regular people. King also has spent decades using her friendship with Oprah Winfrey to arguably stay more relevant in the culture than she may have a right to be.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s perhaps not surprising that King is being accused of trying to play both sides of the war between Stephen Colbert and the corporate leaders at CBS, who \u201cfroze him out\u201d in the final weeks of his tenure at \u201cThe Late Show\u201d and refused to cover his show\u2019s emotional final episode, according to the Daily Beast<\/a> and the Naughty But Nice Substack.<\/a><\/p>\n

King got to be one of the celebrity guests at Colbert\u2019s farewell afterparty, following the taping of \u201cThe Late Show\u201d finale last week. But insiders told Rob Shuter, the Naughty But Nice podcast author, that the morning show co-host wouldn\u2019t publicly defend her friend against orders from CBS executives for her show to ignore mention of his final show or his departure from the network.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Trump celebrated the end of \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d early Friday, hours after the show\u2019s final episode. (AP)\u00a0AP<\/p>\n

\u201cGayle wants it both ways,\u201d an insider told Shuter. \u201cShe wants Stephen to know she\u2019s his friend, but she also wants management to know she\u2019s staying loyal to the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

This news about King comes as she\u2019s been in the headlines this week for her revealing interview on Alex Cooper\u2019s Call Her Daddy podcast. King talked about how it used to \u201creally bother\u201d her<\/a> when the tabloids reported on rumors that she and Winfrey were \u201csecretly gay\u201d and in a relationship. She also went into detail about how she caught her ex-husband, attorney William Bumpus, having an extramarital affair with her friend in the early 1990s, leading to the end of their marriage. King\u2019s revelation prompted Bumpus to issue a statement Wednesday, apologizing to King and their two children.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the \u201cblackout\u201d of Colbert came after he mocked Tony Dokoupil, CBS\u2019s beleaguered news anchor, on a comedy segment that sources says angered executives, according to the Daily Beast and Matthew Belloni of Puck.<\/a> The blackout was \u201cintentional,\u201d Belloni and Status reported.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Colbert joined the media pile-on, joking about Dokoupil\u2019s failure to secure the visa needed to travel to China and report on the summit between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Daily Beast reported. This was seen as a high-profile blunder by CBS News. While other reporters, including some from CBS, covered the summit from Beijing, Dokoupil was instead forced to report from Taipei, more than 1,000 miles away.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the news teams are on the ground in China to cover this epic and historic summit,\u201d Colbert joked in a monologue on May 14. \u201cAll except one.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBS News President Tom Cibrowski reportedly was furious that Colbert mocked their news anchor and ordered the blackout on covering his departure from the network, as Belloni reported.<\/p>\n

But CBS staffers were \u201cstunned\u201d that King went along with this order and failed to acknowledge her friend on her show last Friday, Shuter reported. The staffers couldn\u2019t believe that she and her show didn\u2019t pay tribute to one of the network\u2019s biggest stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cShowing up at the afterparty was her way of saying, \u2018I support you personally,\u2019\u201d an insider told Shuter. \u201cBut refusing to publicly challenge the network sent a much louder message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople expected at least some recognition,\u201d\u00a0one source says.\u00a0\u201cInstead, it felt like corporate punishment \u2014 and employees were paying close attention to who was willing to speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n

While King posted a warm online tribute to Colbert on Instagram,<\/a> insiders told Shuter that some staffers saw her gesture as an act of self-serving damage control.<\/p>\n

\u201cGayle knows exactly how to survive in television,\u201d one of the sources told Shuter. \u201cShe\u2019s protecting her friendship with Stephen without risking her standing with CBS bosses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside CBS headquarters, King\u2019s attempted \u201cbalancing act\u201d has become difficult to ignore, Shuter said. For some of King\u2019s followers, her double-dealing also is difficult to let go. Below her Instagram post, people called her out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watch you every morning!\u201d one person said. \u201cCouldn\u2019t believe your show didn\u2019t cover his last show! It was everywhere! At least you mentioned it at the end!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRead the room Gayle. You are part of the problem,\u201d another person said. To which others responded, \u201cexactly,\u201d \u201cyep!!! Bezos and all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others criticized King for signing a lucrative new contract with CBS even after it canceled Colbert\u2019s show. While the CBS line is that it could no longer justify \u201cThe Late Show\u2019s\u201d high operating costs amid declining ratings, Colbert fans believe that CBS \u2014 whose news division is now run by what the Daily Beast calls \u201cMAGA-curious\u201d editor in chief Bari Weiss \u2014 wanted to punish him for his critical monologues of the president and his administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet, u sign a new contract with CBS while they r restricting free speech. How much money do u need????\u201d one person said on her post.<\/p>\n

\u201cYup\u2026time to switch away from CBS,\u201d another person said. \u201cNot interested in a network that lets a national treasure like Colbert go. Will be waiting for his next moves. Sad to see CBS be so diminished and compromised. Not covering his final show or the real story behind his departure is just another sign of the news and the network\u2019s demise\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

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