{"id":621524,"date":"2026-06-19T12:52:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=621524"},"modified":"2026-06-19T12:52:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:52:04","slug":"colbert-cost-cbs-until-the-bitter-end-as-network-pays-fee-for-unauthorized-peanuts-song-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=621524","title":{"rendered":"Colbert cost CBS until the bitter end, as network pays fee for unauthorized \u2018Peanuts\u2019 song"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

To the bitter end, Stephen Colbert cost CBS to air his not-very-funny, politically-biased late-night talk show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d was reportedly burning $40 million a year, with a massive $100 million budget that included anywhere from 20 to 25 writers scripting the alleged comedian\u2019s \u201chumor.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his final show, in what can only be seen as a middle finger to CBS, Colbert had his house band, Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine, play Vince Guaraldi\u2019s Peanuts song, \u201cLucy and Linus,\u201d after pointing out that Lee Mendelson Film Productions (LMFP) has been heavily enforcing copyright and licensing fees for Guaraldi\u2019s songs.<\/p>\n\n

After pointing out that CBS did not have \u201cpermission\u201d for them to be playing the song, Colbert cheekily said, \u201cOh no, I hope this doesn\u2019t cost CBS any money!\u201d<\/p>\n

That episode aired on May 21. On June 16, LMFP announced \u201ca licensing agreement with CBS for the use of Guaraldi\u2019s \u2018Linus and Lucy\u2019 in Colbert\u2019s final broadcast.<\/p>\n

\n

CBS has been forced to pay a fine after Stephen Colbert played an unlicensed Peanuts song on air during his last episode.<\/p>\n

The owner of the rights to Peanuts has donated the fee to Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s\u2019 charity, World Central Kitchen. pic.twitter.com\/AmBPS2q1tQ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) June 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The fee\/penalty was not announced, but LMFP said the proceeds will be donated to World Central Kitchen, a not-for-profit organization that provides meals during crises.<\/p>\n

\u201cLMFP found the music\u2019s use on The Late Show funny and entertaining, and is proud to support World Central Kitchen\u2019s mission,\u201d said Chairman Jason Mendelson. \u201cA principal goal of our enforcement actions is to educate individuals, businesses, and government entities about the need to obtain written license agreements to use music in a commercial setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colbert supporters billed the incident as a planned \u201cgag,\u201d but social media users had a different take \u2014 here\u2019s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:<\/p>\n

\n

Colbert\u2019s exit move was playing music he had no rights to and leaving CBS to eat the copyright fine. After years of moral lectures from the desk, this is how he walks off stage. The rules only mattered when they applied to everyone else. Still I\u2019m laughing .<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Walrus Daily News (@TheWalrusDaily) June 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

That show was a violation of sense . It was like jackass in suits . Wimps on parade is the vibe I always got . Concrete jungle pounders on screen mad that other people don\u2019t want to live life in a shit hole .Don\u2019t want to have to carry protection because of other jungle residents<\/p>\n

\u2014 Olaf of Dumbfounded . (@LarryQualls20) June 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The circle jerk of life<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) June 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

I think the legal issue is that if he gets away with it, it sets a precedent for other people ignoring the copyright. So they are safeguarding their rights in general, and morally doing the right thing by donating the fine to a humanitarian cause.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Karen Rachel Heckert (@RachelHeckert) June 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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This doesn\u2019t make any sense. The show didn\u2019t air live. They could have removed the segment if they wanted. If he brought Sydney Sweeney out and she was full tits out, they wouldn\u2019t have aired that\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 New Burner (@daddysnewburner) June 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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They made a mistake picking a fight with someone they spent years paying for his natural ability to be the wittiest person in the room. Now they get to see him be the pettiest and I\u2019m here for it. lol<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dustalk (@Dustalk) June 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To the bitter end, Stephen Colbert cost CBS to air his not-very-funny, politically-biased late-night talk show. \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d was reportedly burning $40 million a year, with a massive $100 million budget that included anywhere from 20 to 25 writers scripting the alleged comedian\u2019s \u201chumor.\u201d On his final show, in what can… Continue reading Colbert cost CBS until the bitter end, as network pays fee for unauthorized \u2018Peanuts\u2019 song<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":621504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-621524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=621524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/621504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=621524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=621524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=621524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}