Anderson Cooper has made an emotional tribute to his friend Stephen Colbert to mark his final episode of The Late Show.
Colbert’s long-running talk show ended on Thursday after being axed by CBS last year, with the network claiming it was “purely a financial decision” and unrelated to The Late Show‘s performance or content.
This month, Cooper quit his role on CBS’s flagship news show 60 Minutes after more than 20 years, citing the need to spend time with his two sons, Wyatt, 4, and Sebastian, 6. The program has been steered in a new direction by Bari Weiss, the MAGA-friendly editor-in-chief at CBS News. Cooper will continue to work for CNN.
Speaking on CNN on Thursday, Cooper referenced his 22 appearances on The Late Show, making him second only to John Oliver as the program’s most-frequent guest.
“It’s a sad night to see Stephen sign off, to see so many who work on that show now out of work,” Cooper said.
“To see a president who can’t take a joke go after anyone who can make one.”
Cooper also praised Colbert’s “decency, his curiosity and intelligence, and of course, his sense of humor.”
After playing clips of his multiple appearances on The Late Show, Cooper said, “CBS executives have said that canceling Colbert was `purely a financial decision.’ But to fans of Colbert and free speech, there doesn’t seem to be anything pure about this decision.”
Cooper added, “We’ve seen a lot of disappointing behavior in the past year from some very meek, bold-faced names in the world of big business,” without identifying any individuals.
The CNN host then referenced The Lord of the Rings. Colbert is a super-fan of the J.R.R. Tolkien novels, and is even co-writing a new Rings movie with director Peter Jackson.
Quoting a famous line spoken by the Elf Gildor Inglorion to Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring, Cooper said, “Courage is found in unlikely places. Stephen Colbert knows a lot about J.R.R. Tolkien and he knows a hell of a lot about courage.”
Cooper referenced Tolkien again to end his tribute to Colbert, offering some “words of hope” from the author.
Citing a passage where Baggins was heading toward doom and “almost ready to give up,” Cooper said Tolkien wrote, “in the end the shadow was only a small and passing thing. There was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.”
He ended his tribute by saying, “Thank you, Stephen, for so many great conversations, and I can‘t wait to see what you do next!”
Cooper, 58, made his final appearance on 60 Minutes this month after announcing his departure in February amid reports that he had grown “uncomfortable” with the “rightward direction” of CBS News under its new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss.
In his sign-off, Cooper appeared to offer a thinly veiled message to Weiss, who was installed by Trump-friendly Paramount-Skydance CEO David Ellison last October.
“I hope 60 Minutes remains 60 Minutes,” Cooper said. “There’s very few things that have been around for as long as 60 Minutes has and maintained the quality that it has.”
He added, “I think the independence of 60 Minutes has been critical.”
Cooper argued that “things can always evolve and change,” before saying, “But I hope the core of what 60 Minutes is always remains.”
