Stephen Colbert arrives for The Hollywood Reporter's The Most Powerful People in Media, in New York, U.S., May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
In his final episode, "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert gave a parting gift as his own way of flipping the network the bird. Now CBS is on the hook and the cash will go to Colbert's favorite charity.
In the final edition of his popular segment "Meanwhile," Colbert mentioned recent copyright enforcement for Lee Mendelson Film Productions, which owns the song from the cartoons of Peanuts by creator Charles Schulz. They have recently gone on a kind of legal blitz over the usage of their content by Vince Guaraldi. One of those enforcement agreements concerns Guaraldi's musical reproductions of the song, including the theme from the animated film "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which features the famous theme song "Linus and Lucy."
“Peanuts is a powerful brand and corporation in and of itself," Colbert said. "Anyone illegally using that music is going to have to pay through the nose... Louis, Louis! Is the band right now playing the same Peanuts music I just said people were being sued for using without permission? Is that what you're doing? Oh no, I hope this doesn't cost CBS any money!”
Variety reported on Tuesday that CBS has made an agreement to avoid further legal trouble. According to the deal, CBS will pay for a license for “Linus and Lucy,” which the band played on air.
The proceeds from the deal will be given to Chef José Andrés' World Central Kitchen, the charity that Colbert has supported for years. In the final months of the show, he began a campaign to sell things from the "Late Show" set, including ties he wore, props from segments, and other mementos. The proceeds all went to World Central Kitchen, totalling nearly $2.5 million. Variety didn't indicate how much would be donated to the charity.
“LMFP found the music’s use on 'The Late Show' funny and entertaining, and is proud to support World Central Kitchen’s mission,” the group’s chairman Jason Mendelson said.
“A 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,” Mendelson added.
A spokeswoman for CBS confirmed the two had reached an agreement but declined to comment further.
Colbert's "Meanwhile" segment is still on YouTube and has over 1.2 million views and the song remains in the video played by Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine.
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