Lightning has struck twice.
It seems like David Ellison has canned Stephen Colbert for a second time.
Reports from Middle Earth are that David Ellison, who now Warner Bros, has shit-canned Colbert from “The Lord of the Rings” movie the ex-talk show host was writing with his son and Phillipa Boyens.
That news should put a chill through everyone in Hollywood. Colbert already got cancelled by Ellison when he took over CBS via the Skydance Paramount deal.
Colbert seemed safe at Warner Bros. But now Ellison is closing his deal to own a second studio, which means Colbert was suddenly vulnerable to the nepo baby studio head one more time.
This begs the question: will Ellison cancel contracts throughout Warner’s/HBO of people he doesn’t like or has a bumpy past with?
If Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of “South Park,” hadn’t signed a $1 billion deal with Comedy Central/Viacom/Paramount they might have seen the same problems. “South Park” returned to skewering Ellison pal Donald Trump this week, putting him back in bed with Satan. (Their second episode ticks like a time bomb.)
The Colbert news is bad, and certainly disappointing for him. He’s had a nice break, maybe he’ll revive his talk show somewhere soon — we miss and need it. And maybe Ellison will not retaliate against anyone else. Otherwise it’s going to be a rough ride.
