24 hours after CBS/Paramount pulled the plug on Stephen Colbert's Late Show, Colbert turned up guest-hosting a local public access television show in Monroe, Michigan, "Only in Monroe," as reported on Boing Boing here.
Not satisfied with cancelling the Late Show, Paramount decided to also refuse access to this (hilarious) surprise appearance by Colbert. Claiming they "financed and produced" the public access episode, they issued copyright takedown notices to outlets showing it. The video of the episode I linked to in my Boing Boing post (linked to above), posted by LateNighter, is down, replaced with a message that "This video is private."
Daniella Silva of NBC News writes:
Journalist Matthew Keys on Saturday accused Paramount of "apparently trying to suppress" copies of the episode from appearing on other social media platforms "even though the show was produced by a public access TV channel." Keys posted on X on Sunday that Paramount rescinded the copyright claim.
A CBS spokesperson said in a statement that the "Only in Monroe" episode featuring Colbert 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."
Amid public criticism, Paramount recently claimed to back off its copyright claim, and allow dissemination of the episode. A spokesman said Paramount decided to "to waive further enforcement of this standard industry practice until additional review."
The link in Boing Boing's original article is still down as of this writing, but here is a working (for now) link to Stephen Colbert's own YouTube channel.
