Jimmy Kimmel pushed back Monday against reports that Stephen Colberts "The Late Show" was losing CBS $40 million a year, calling them completely false."I just want to say that the idea that Stephen Colberts show was losing $40 million a year is beyond nonsensical,"Kimmel told Variety in an interview published Monday. "These alleged insiders who supposedly analyze the budgets of the shows I dont know who they are, but I do know, they dont know what theyre talking about.""They seem to only be focused on advertising revenue and have completely forgotten about affiliate fees, which number in the hundreds of millions probably in total billions and you must allocate a certain percentage of those fees to late-night shows," he added.NEW PARAMOUNT CHIEF BACKS COLBERT CANCELLATION, SAYS LATE-NIGHT LANDSCAPE HAS 'HUGE PROBLEM'In its July 18 statement announcing Colberts show would end, CBS said the decision was purely financial and "not related in any way to the shows performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."Puck News reported that Colberts show "has been losing more than $40 million a year" for CBS and that it had a budget of "more than $100 million per season," comparing it with CBS' daytime and primetime programming, which were "still profitable."But Kimmel told Variety that there is no way Colberts show was losing $40 million a year."It really is surprising how little the media seems to know about how the media works," Kimmel said.CBS HOST POURS COLD WATER ON LIBERAL OUTRAGE TO COLBERT CANCELLATION, SAYS LATE-NIGHT INDUSTRY IS 'BROKEN'"Theres just not a snowballs chance in hell that thats anywhere near accurate. Even that thats all you need to know," he added. "Suddenly hes losing $40 million a year? I will tell you, the first 10 years I did the show, they claimed we werent making any money and we had five times as many viewers on ABC as we do now. Who knows whats true? All I know is they keep paying us and thats kind of all you need to know."Kimmel also said that he thinks late-night television is far from dead."Network television is declining,"Kimmel told Variety. "Theres no question about that. But more people are watching late-night television than ever before and I include Johnny Carson in that. People may find that shocking. When Carson was at his peak, he was getting around 9 million viewers a night. Thats huge. Of course, the lead-in shows were getting 30 and 40 million, which was a big part of it. But people are still watching late-night just in different places. Our monologues get between 2 and 5 million views, sometimes more, every night."Fox News Digital reached out to CBS' parent company Paramount for comment.Fox News host Greg Gutfeld is thriving in late-night. In 2025, "Gutfeld!" averaged 3.1 million viewers through July 20, compared to 1.9 million for CBS outgoing "The Late Show." During that same time period, ABCs "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" averaged 1.5 million, NBCs "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon" averaged 1.1 million, and NBCs "Late Night with Seth Meyers" managed 751,000.