The Writers Guild of America is urging New York state prosecutors to open an investigation into CBS’s abrupt decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” shortly after its host criticized the network’s recent settlement with President Donald Trump.

Colbert on Tuesday called the $16 million settlement “a big fat bribe,” given that Trump oversees the Federal Communications Commission. The owners of CBS’s parent company, Paramount, need that agency to approve a merger that would reportedly personally benefit them.

CBS and Paramount agreed to settle with Trump earlier this month over a lawsuit he brought against the long-running news program “60 Minutes,” instead of demanding the case go to trial — even though Trump’s claim had little to stand on.

“Given Paramount’s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that ‘The Late Show’s’ cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval,” the Writers Guild of America’s East and West branches said in a joint statement issued Friday. (HuffPost’s unionized staff are part of the Writers Guild of America East.)

The union encouraged New York State Attorney General Letitia James to take a look at the alleged bribes, pointing to a similar probe underway in California.

CBS is not finding a new host to take over the three-decade-old “Late Show,” which first aired with David Letterman at the helm. It claimed the decision was “purely a financial” one, pointing to the general decline of late-night audiences.

Among late-night shows, however, Colbert’s program tops the list in popularity.

The union continued its statement: “Cancelations are part of the business, but a corporation terminating a show in bad faith due to explicit or implicit political pressure is dangerous and unacceptable in a democratic society.”

“Paramount’s decision comes against a backdrop of relentless attacks on a free press by President Trump, through lawsuits against CBS and ABC, threatened litigation of media organizations with critical coverage, and the unconscionable defunding of PBS and NPR,” it said.

Some Democratic lawmakers have also sounded alarms on the cancellation; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote Thursday that Americans deserve to know if it was a politically calculated move.

Colbert announced the network’s decision to boos from his audience on Thursday.

“Yeah, I share your feelings,” the host said.

He noted that the show employs some 200 people who will be out of a job in 10 months.

Trump openly celebrated the cancellation on Truth Social, adding that he “hears” Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC program may be next and that Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld is “funnier than all of them combined.”

(Days ago, Gutfeld suggested conservatives “reclaim” the word “Nazi” and use it in casual reference to themselves.)

Trump’s issue with “60 Minutes” stemmed from an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris that aired last year. Trump claimed it had been edited to make Harris look better, and thus influence the trajectory of the 2024 presidential election. The network pointed out that editing is an unavoidable reality in the news programming industry.

Like Colbert, comedian Jon Stewart expressed high skepticism for the “60 Minutes” settlement. In a “Daily Show” interview with longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft, who is now retired, both men appeared in agreement that the settlement was a “tribute to the king,” as Kroft put it — a reference to Trump.

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