US President Donald Trump has claimed that the future owner of CBS will provide him with $20 million worth of advertising and programming, just days after the network announced the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. This follows a $16 million legal settlement Trump reached with CBS’s parent company, Paramount, over what he alleged was misleading editing of a pre-election interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. While CBS had originally dismissed the lawsuit as “completely without merit,” the settlement comes amid Paramount’s $8 billion pending sale to Skydance Media, a deal that still requires regulatory approval. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: “Paramount/CBS/60 Minutes have today paid $16 Million Dollars in settlement, and we also anticipate receiving $20 Million Dollars more from the new Owners, in Advertising, PSAs [public service announcements], or similar Programming, for a total of over $36 Million Dollars.” Neither CBS nor Skydance has publicly responded to Trump’s claim. But, as per a report by Forbes, Paramount previously denied reports that the company could compensate Trump via advertising, telling The Washington Post it “has no knowledge of any promises or commitments made to President Trump.” Skydance was founded by David Ellison, son of tech billionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a known Trump ally. The reported promise of $20 million in programming from Skydance, while unverified, has already stirred controversy, especially in light of CBS’s abrupt axing of Colbert’s Late Show. Colbert, a vocal critic of Trump, had previously called the $16 million settlement “a big fat bribe.” While he's expected to remain on air until May 2026, Colbert warned viewers this week that “the gloves are off.” “I don’t know if anything, anything will repair my trust in this company,” Colbert said last week on his show. “But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.” Responding to Trump’s latest claim, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren posted on X: “This reeks of corruption.”
