The end of the 'Late Show' franchise is a major blow for a once-beloved TV format, which has lost relevance and advertising dollars.

“CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery,” Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote on X. “America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”

CBS is canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May, shuttering a decades-old TV institution and removing from air one of President Donald Trump's most prominent late-night critics.

"Just finished taping with Stephen Colbert who announced his show was cancelled," U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, said in a post on X. "If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.

CBS’ decision to cut ties with Stephen Colbert and its decades-old “Late Show” franchise come next May will leave a major hole in the format — but one that has been widening. TV networks have been cutting costs at their late-night mainstays for the past few years.

A new report from Puck's Matt Belloni is shedding light on the finances that led to CBS' bombshell cancellation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Colbert notably clowned Paramount and described the settlement as a “big fat bribe” on Monday’s show, jokes that sparked speculation that the program’s cancellation was politically motivated and led the show’s union to call for an investigation into CBS’ decision.

From the moment Stephen Colbert shared that The Late Show was canceled and he would depart in May, entertainment industry folks and politicians alike speculated that the reason for the host’s dismissal and the cancellation of his show was his outspoken politics,

The show is the most-watched late-night program on U.S. broadcast television and a frequent platform of satire aimed at Trump. Colbert told his audience on Thursday that he was informed of his show's cancellation the night before.

Paramount, the network’s parent, recently agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes.”

"America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper criticized CBS’s parent company over its recent decision to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” arguing that Paramount Global is in a “bend-the-knee phase” to President Trump.