CBS Says It Will Stop Copyright Striking Stephen Colbert’s Viral Public Access TV Show Appearance

Last week, Stephen Colbert signed off from CBS’s The Late Show for the last time following an ongoing feud with the Trump administration. Just 24 hours later, he made a surprise appearance on the Only in Monroe public access TV show in Michigan. The episode included celebrity guests like Jeff Daniels and quickly went viral. Then CBS started issuing copyright strikes against accounts sharing the episode online.

“Paramount is apparently trying to suppress copies of ‘Only in Monroe’ from appearing on other social platforms by filing frivolous copyright notices, even though the show was produced by a public access TV channel and doesn’t use their intellectual property…,” wrote independent journalist Matthew Keyes, whose re-post of the show on X had gone viral. Other accounts started sharing similar screenshots of copyright strikes from Paramount, leading many to bemoan the fact that CBS had seemingly canceled Colbert’s show to appease Trump only to continue antagonizing him after his final Late Show appearance.

Paramount claiming ownership of a Public Access show in Michigan is wild work.

We re-shared Colbert’s public access show with our audience yesterday, made sure to point everyone back to Monroe Community Media — and CBS blocked the entire thing?! Insanity. @MaydayNetwork pic.twitter.com/H61gyvkUxT

— Michelle Kinney (@MichelleKinney) May 24, 2026

The network has since gone public to make it clear that that wasn’t what was going on. “Stephen Colbert’s return to Monroe in the ‘Only in Monroe’ episode was financed and produced by CBS Studios and was posted on Stephen Colbert’s YouTube channel in collaboration with Monroe Community Media and ‘The Late Show’s’ YouTube channels,” a CBS spokesperson told Variety on Monday.

The continued, “As is our regular practice, we send copyright notices to unauthorized websites that post copyrighted content from CBS and our network/studio talent such as Stephen Colbert. However, for this episode, we have decided to waive further enforcement of this standard industry practice until additional review.”

Colbert used “Only in Monroe” to launch his Late Show back in 2015, so it was an obvious place to bring that journey full circle. I guess CBS and its parent company aren’t completely shameless at this point and can still be embarrassed into letting the internet celebrate one of the best late night TV bits in recent history without the corporate hall monitors stepping in.