David Letterman, a looming figure in network television, sounded off while appearing on a video podcast posted to his YouTube channel on Friday, lamenting recent events in the late night arena and the decline he perceives in broadcast journalism at CBS, the former broadcaster of his The Late Show with David Letterman.
On an episode of The Barbara Gaines Show, Letterman joined the host, who is the longtime former executive producer of The Late Show, and after about six minutes into the clip, he delivered one of his most pointed critiques yet on both topics — aimed squarely at corporate media ownership and the erosion of editorial courage. His comments arrive at a turbulent moment for late night television, as networks face Trump administration backlash and internal strife over how far hosts can go in criticizing the president and others in power. Jimmy Kimmel and his nightly show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! have become central to this debate and in the video, Letterman praised him as a defining voice of the moment.
“Jimmy Kimmel single-handedly brought the people at Disney and all of those other network television owners to their knees,” Letterman said after bringing up the topic himself, arguing that the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host exposed the contradictions and sensitivities of corporate media executives while holding political leaders accountable.
Letterman rejected claims that late night comedy has become reflexively partisan, insisting that Kimmel’s criticism is driven by conduct, not party affiliation: “If we had a Democratic president behaving the way this Republican president is behaving, Jimmy would be attacking the Democratic president just as much.”
The remarks come as Disney has faced scrutiny over how it managed the political controversy around Kimmel’s show. Following the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, Disney was accused of temporarily sidelining Kimmel in an attempt to reduce its political exposure when Jimmy Kimmel Live! was put on hiatus. The incident intensified concerns that corporate owners are increasingly risk-averse when confronted with the volatility of the current political fray.
Letterman also warned that late night is running out of platforms willing to tolerate dissenting voices. Alongside Kimmel, he cited late night hosts Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert, the latter who took over when he left his gig, as part of a shrinking group of hosts willing to challenge the powers that be.
“We’re running out of places where you hear these voices,” Letterman said.
CBS News got the harshest tongue-lashing from Letterman in the clip. An institution that Letterman said once embodied journalistic bravery — invoking Edward R. Murrow’s WWII broadcasts from London — Letterman contrasted the network’s historical legacy with what he described as its current leadership crisis.
“That mentality drove the integrity of CBS News,” he said while discussing Murrow. “And it has been trampled on, pissed on, and eviscerated by these idiots that have taken it over.”
Those comments come amid controversy surrounding CBS’s evolving editorial direction. Last year, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison installed The Free Press founder and political commentator Bari Weis as editor-in-chief of the newsroom, a move that has sparked internal dissent and public debate as she quickly began to make moves perceived as friendly to the Trump administration and its agenda, including the spiking of a story on the hellish El Salvador prison where the U.S. sent Venezualan migrants; Weiss reportedly told the producer the vetted and legally approved segment could not air without comment from the administration (a policy could effectively allow them to kill any political story from CBS by refusing to speak).
Letterman, in closing his discussion of the topics, looked ahead to 2026’s midterm elections with little hope that any change that comes in politics will impact these shifts in the media’s landscape.
“It really is hurting my feelings, because I’m sick and tired of people saying, ‘Oh, wait until those midterms,’” he said. “Kids? We’re far downstream of the midterms having any effect on this.”
