For Late Night's Trump Critics, the Escape Routes Are Vanishing (Bill Carter)

[pstokely]

https://latenighter.com/features/paramount-late-night-trump-critics/

Once Paramount completes its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery—bringing HBO into its orbit—four of the biggest names in late night will effectively be working for a management, Paramount Global, and an owner, David Ellison, that Trump can comfortably call “loyal.”

One host, Stephen Colbert, has already experienced the fallout of regime change. His show was canceled shortly before Paramount’s deal to absorb CBS received approval from the administration—this, despite being the most-watched program in the post-11 p.m. hour.

The Daily Show on Comedy Central, still headlined by Jon Stewart, has been living under that same ownership. Somewhat surprisingly—given Stewart’s spectacular and spectacularly funny weekly eviscerations—the show has so far remained off Trump’s missile-launch radar.

So far.

Now John Oliver and Bill Maher, HBO’s two late-night stars, face the prospect of satirizing Donald Trump and his administration while working for a management team that almost surely owes its success in acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery to Trump’s heavy influence.