Too Political?

Long before the cancellation/suspension of Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, Americans have debated whether late-night television has become too political. While critics argue that late-night shows are overly partisan and too hung up on criticism of the Trump administration at the expense of light-hearted fun and broad appeal, others argue that political commentary is and has always been a key part of the genre’s DNA and that the often stinging political satire delivered by the current generation of late-night hosts is merely a reaction and a necessary counterweight to the populist style of politics that Donald Trump stands for. While late-night legends like Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Jay Leno may have been more subtle in poking fun at politicians, said subtlety has long vanished from the political landscape, with the president himself time and time again raising the bar of what can or cannot be said by political leaders.

Like almost any issue these days, the late-night debate divides the country along partisan lines. According to a joint survey conducted by YouGov and Yahoo in the aftermath of CBS announcing the end of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, 76 percent of Democrats favor late-night hosts getting involved in politics, while just 11 percent oppose Kimmel and co. speaking out on political issues. At the other end of the political spectrum, 57 percent of Republicans oppose late-night hosts getting involved in politics and just 19 percent are in favor of it. The same divide is apparent in the views of the reasons behind the cancellation of the Late Show, with Democrats widely thinking that Colbert was canceled because he is critical of President Trump and CBS’ parent company Paramount was trying to curry favor with the administration, while Republicans believe that the Late Show losing viewers and money were the main reasons for the cancellation.