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Late-night host Stephen Colbert was met with a standing ovation at the Emmy Awards on Sunday night, just two months after CBS announced his show would be canceled.
The 61-year-old comedian accepted the award for Best Talk Series, which his show won over The Daily Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live!
In spite of the cancellation, he expressed gratitude to the network, sharing his wish for the show to persevere. He stated, “I want to thank CBS for granting us the opportunity to be part of the late-night tradition, which I hope will continue long after our show ends.”
He thanked the crew for the chat show and his entire family before ending on a sweet, positive, and patriotic note.
Stephen remarked, “I have never felt more passionate about my country. God bless America. Stay resilient, be courageous, and if the elevator tries to take you down, go wild and aim for a higher floor! Woo!”
Colbert had also received a standing ovation earlier in the night, when took the stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles to announce best actor in a comedy series.
As he appeared on stage, Colbert was met with loud applause from the audience as they rose to their feet.
‘Stephen! Stephen!’ the audience could be heard chanting.
Stephen Colbert accepted the award for Best Talk Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday
The audience rose to give Colbert a standing ovation as he accepted the award
‘Is anyone hiring? Because I’ve got 200 very qualified candidates here tonight who will be available in June,’ he said at the time, referring to all of his cast and crew members.
Colbert then took out a headshot from when he was much younger, saying: ‘I haven’t had a chance to update my headshot in a bit, but I think it still works. I think I’m in there somewhere.
‘I only have one,’ he continued, before asking Harrison Ford if he could get the picture to renowned producer Steven Spielberg.
Colbert quickly ran off the stage and onto the main floor of the theater to shake hands with the Indiana Jones star – who retrieved the resume.
Prior to the show, the late night host expressed his desire to win an award for his team before his program comes to an end in May.
‘The people who do the show every day teach me what it’s like to be a professional and I would be very grateful if we could win it for them because they deserve all the recognition they can get,’ he told E! News’ Live from E! red carpet coverage.
‘I get all the applause and I get all the fame – and I’m fine with that,’ he joked. ‘But I also want them to get a little recognition.’
He also told the outlet: ‘We’ve got nine more months of the show and we’re going to have a really good time doing it.’
Colbert is pictured taking the stage in the moments after his show’s win was announced
Colbert had earlier said he wanted to secure a win for his team
He said his crew members ‘deserve all the recognition they can get’
CBS had announced it was canceling the Late Show with Stephen Colbert in mid-July – just days after the host blasted the network’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump as a ‘big fat bribe.’
The president had accused the network of falsely editing an interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Although the network didn’t admit to any journalistic wrongdoing, the massive settlement will cover Trump’s legal fees and his future presidential library.
Paramount also agreed to release unedited transcripts of 60 Minutes interviews with presidential candidates.
Days after the settlement was reached, Colbert said on his program that he was ‘offended’ by the actions of his employer.
He called the lawsuit Trump brought against CBS News a ‘nuisance’ and claiming that the network’s parent company, Paramount, could’ve ‘easily fought it’ – citing the company’s own words calling Trump’s allegations ‘completely without merit.’
‘And keep in mind Paramount produced Transformers: Rise of the Beast. They know “completely without merit,”‘ Colbert joked, poking fun at the Paramount film that bombed at the box office.
He then cited a phony statement, joking that the network said, ‘You may take our money, but you will never take our dignity.
‘You may, however, purchase our dignity for the low, low, price of $16 million. We need the cash.’
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was canceled days after the host blasted the network’s settlement with President Donald Trump
The comedian went on to argue that the settlement was a ‘big, fat, bribe,’ in light of the company’s $8.4 billion merger with Skydance, which will need approval from the Trump administration.
The late night host also cited an article from Puck, that claimed the merger could ‘put pressure’ on him to ease up on Trump criticisms.
The owner of Skydance, David Ellison, has expressed his desire to have a more neutral tone on politics.
His father, Larry Ellison, is also a major Trump supporter who joined the president at the White House in January for the unveiling of a project called Stargate. It is now believed the elder Ellison is providing the $8 billion for the CBS deal, according to the New York Times.
Yet network executives insisted that the decision to cancel the show was ‘purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.’
‘It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,’ they said at the time, noting that they consider Colbert ‘irreplaceable and will retire the Late Show franchise’ in May.
‘We are proud that Stephen called CBS home,’ the network executives said.
‘He and his broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.’
