Former CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert has taken a dig at Bari Weiss after his own daughter quit her job at 60 Minutes to avoid working for CBS’s controversial new leader.
After his big win at Monday night’s Emmy Awards, the former Late Show host fielded questions from the press, subtly throwing shade at Weiss in the process.
During his interview with CNN correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister and Variety’s co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh, Colbert was asked for his thoughts on Weiss, CBS’s MAGA-coded boss since October 2025.
Colbert replied he’s “never heard of her.”
“Do you know her? I hear great things,” he added, sarcastically.
Colbert’s relationship with his former network is, understandably, strained. CBS canceled his show after Colbert called out CBS’s parent company, Paramount, for “bribing” the president. The company settled Trump’s 60 Minutes lawsuit by paying the Trump administration $16 million.
CBS described the decision to cancel Colbert as “purely financial.” After the settlement, Skydance, owned by Trump-friendly billionaires the Ellisons, acquired the network’s parent company.
The last episode of Colbert’s show aired on May 21. Colbert closed off his 11-year run on The Late Show on an emotional note but also threw a direct dig at CBS.
Colbert’s comments on Weiss come after his daughter, Madeleine Carlisle, exited 60 Minutes amid a flurry of departures and backlash to Weiss’s overhaul of the long-running program. Former staff members have accused Weiss of interference and bending to the will of President Donald Trump.
In the last few months, the network both axed and lost several high-profile stars on the legendary program, including Anderson Cooper. Scott Pelley, one of the most recognizable of the network’s stars, was fired after accusing Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes, for which he had been a correspondent since 2004.
Weiss’s role at CBS has been highly contentious and marred by eyebrow-raising controversies. CNN star W. Kamau Bell told Obsessed: The Podcast that “there are a lot of good, decent people who work there whose jobs are going to be made harder by Bari Weiss.”
Colbert’s daughter left 60 Minutes of her own volition and later joined The Atlantic as a staff writer.
Colbert took home the Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Series, receiving a standing ovation from the audience. In his acceptance speech, the veteran late-night host urged the entertainment industry to hire his former staffers. “Hire them,” Colbert said, “They will make your show better, and they will make your day easier.”
Turning his attention to his loyal viewers, he continued, “I want to say to the audience, thank you so much for watching. We hope you enjoyed the show. We had a great time doing it for you.”
In his post-win interview, Colbert provided some hope for the future of late-night and supported his colleagues who continue to hold their slots, despite the Trump administration’s consistent attacks on the genre and its hosts.
“I think that late night is just as funny and just as vital as it ever has been, and I love watching Jimmy and Jimmy and Jon and John and Seth and everybody else. And I think I hope it goes on for a long time because you get to work with people like this, and that’s the greatest gift,” he said.
CNN and Variety then attempted to get Colbert to say a few words about President Donald Trump, which the comedian masterfully evaded.
“That’s a beautiful dress. It’s amazing. What? Oh, I’m sorry, I’m deaf in that ear,” he quipped.
