If you're sitting there right now and believe that Stephen Colbert was fired because of politics, you believe in a conspiracy theory. Full stop. The evidence and reporting are clear on what happened, as is the timeline. This is only the latest conspiracy theory, but it is one nonetheless, and Democrats are refusing to face reality over a subpar comedian.

Let's start at the top. One of the main theories being pushed by U.S. Senators and others is that Colbert gave a monologue mocking his parent company for reaching a settlement deal with Donald Trump. A few days later, Colbert receives the news that he has been canceled.

That all makes sense if the timeline is accurate; I can understand how you can arrive at the conspiracy theory. The problem is that the timeline is untrue.

The decision to fire Colbert and end the show was made well before his monologue or his announcement. The Ankler reports on insider industry news in Hollywood, and they report that the Colbert decision was made even before the settlement.

The Ankler reports, "On June 27, just a few days before Paramount would announce its $16 million 60 Minutes settlement with President Trump, James Dixon received a call from CBS executives informing the prominent talent manager that the network was walking away from his client Stephen Colbert's The Late Show. Dixon knew the news more than two weeks before his client."

What about Stephen Colbert? His agent sat on the news. "Colbert, though, would not learn the news of his show's demise until he returned from vacation. It was after Colbert taped the Wednesday, July 16 episode, I'm told, that Dixon informed him of CBS' decision. The following day, Colbert stunned the TV industry and announced the cancellation at the top of the show."

The Ankler goes on to report what so many insider and business outlets have reported: The Late Show was a sinking financial ship. It had already undergone layoffs and cuts, but couldn't stay afloat because the entire media environment had been in an advertising slump.

Both The Puck and The Wall Street Journal got inside looks at The Late Show's finances, and it's losing $40 million a year. While it is losing money, Paramount is losing ground in the streaming wars. YouTube eats up 12.5% of all U.S. viewing time (and growing), with Disney just shy of 11%. Paramount is trending down below 8%.

Colbert made liberals and Democrats feel good about themselves, but that's about it. He was not driving eyeballs to streaming platforms, social media, or YouTube. These revenue streams are vital for these media companies, as they require diverse revenue streams.

Compare this to the show South Park and Paramount's massive $1.5 billion deal with the show's creators. That show is in its 27th season; it is a marquee intellectual property, and will bring eyeballs to Paramount's struggling streaming service. That's why the show's founders could ask for $3 billion, and force the company to negotiate on their terms.

South Park's audience will skew much younger, which is something advertisers love. Meanwhile, regarding Colbert, "The network had trimmed the show's budget last year and felt its losses were too great for additional cuts to make a substantial difference, a person at the company said. Younger viewers have fled late night and with them went a lot of advertising."

Colbert is also not the first cut - he's just the biggest name in a long line of late-night casualties. "All the major late-night shows now air episodes four nights a week instead of five. NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" lost its in-studio band as a cost-cutting measure. When James Corden left his job in 2023 as host of "The Late Late Show," which aired after Colbert, CBS ended the show rather than hire a replacement. CBS did the same with a short-lived show that replaced Corden's and was hosted by comedian Taylor Tomlinson."

These are the facts. Colbert was fired before the settlement, or his diatribe against Paramount and CBS. Colbert's show was losing $40 million a year, while competitors and even his own show were cutting costs and laying people off.

The political conspiracies are similar to what Colbert's show has become over the years: a comforting blanket to make liberals feel better. Colbert had a non-stop parade of Democrats and liberals on his show, letting the audience get their therapy sessions in over Trump's ascendance. The current conspiracies do the same thing.

None of it is true. You're free to believe whatever you want in America. But don't talk to anyone in the Republican Party about believing in bizarre conspiracy theories when you can't even come to terms with a bloated, dying format getting canceled.