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Did CBS try to cancel Stephen Colbert a second time? Not exactly
As it turns out, CBS produced the episode of Only in Monroe that Stephen Colbert hosted
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In the immediate aftermath of the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airing, the former late-night host hopped onto a public access program in Monroe, Michigan - aptly titled Only in Monroe - as host for one night. His surprise appearance prompted many people to post copies of the video online, only to find that CBS, the parent company of the now-cancelled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, issued copyright takedown notices in response - as reported by many sources including NBC.
For many fans who were already mourning the loss of The Late Show with Colbert, the copyright notices were alarming. Journalist Matthew Keys posted on the site formerly known as Twitter that "Paramount is apparently trying to suppress copies of 'Only in Monroe' from appearing on other social platforms by filing frivolous copyright notices, even though the show was produced by a public access TV channel and doesn't use their intellectual property..." Unsurprisingly, the move was a controversial one online and seen by many as overreach on CBS's part.
As it turns out, however, things weren't so straightforward: CBS actually produced the episode of Only in Monroe that Colbert appeared in, so it actually was their right to send copyright notices. And according to the studio, the copyright takedown notices were routine. "As is our regular practice, we send copyright notices to unauthorized websites that post copyrighted content from CBS and our network/studio talent such as Stephen Colbert," CBS said in a statement, as shared on Deadline.
("Our studio talent such as Stephen Colbert" is a curious phrase, considering he very famously does not work for CBS anymore, but we'll let that pass for now.)
You can officially, legally watch Colbert's episode of Only in Monroe on the man's newly-launched personal YouTube channel, where it has accumulated over 701,900 views at this time of writing. As for Colbert's future appearances...? Well, we'd assume he won't just have one video on his YouTube account for that long.
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