George Clooney, Robert De Niro, and more celebs bid emotional farewell to Stephen Colbert's late show

As Stephen Colbert's 'The Late Show' comes to an emotional end tonight, George Clooney (his first guest on the show), Robert De Niro, Jon Hamm, and more stars share tribute to the host's illustrious career. The end of Colbert's 11-year run on the CBS late-night show was announced last July, after the company claimed the cancellation was “purely a financial decision” and not related to the show's ratings or content. But speculation has been rife that President Donald Trump was involved in the cancellation after netizens found his 2024 post on Truth Social saying, "CBS should terminate his contract and pick almost anyone, right off the street, who would do better, and for FAR LESS MONEY.” After the cancellation, Trump broke his silence with another post stating, "Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night. That is not true! The reason he was fired was a pure lack of TALENT, and the fact that this deficiency was costing CBS $50 Million Dollars a year in losses — And it was only going to get WORSE!" Reacting to speculations about political interference behind his show's axing, Colbert told PEOPLE earlier this week, “I mean, how silly would it be? The ending of the show aside, which people can speculate about all they want, and I can’t argue with their speculations, but we’re clowns. How much does it diminish the office of the Presidency to even notice what we say?” The Emmy-winning show will air its final episode tonight, with fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel not airing his show in solidarity with Colbert's final farewell.