There were two bosses on The Late Show, as Bruce Springsteen stopped by on Wednesday night (May 20) and paid tribute to outgoing host Stephen Colbert.
Springsteen always seems to show up at the precisely the right time. And so it was, again, as the legendary rocker gave a rousing pro-democracy speech and performed “Streets of Minneapolis” on what was Colbert’s second-to-last show.
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“I am here tonight to support Stephen, because you’re the first guy in America who lost his show because we’ve got a president who can’t take a joke,” he remarked, while at the mic. “And because Larry and David Ellison feel the need to kiss his ass to get what they want.”
That second jab was aimed at the Ellison family, led by billionaire Larry Ellison and his son David, who now own and controls Paramount Global following their $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. That arrangement gave them ownership of CBS, the broadcaster for Colbert’s left-leaning program, which regularly punishes Trump’s administration and his MAGA movement with razor-sharp comedy footwork that would make Muhammad Ali proud.
“Stephen, these are small-minded people,” Springsteen added. “They’ve got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about.”
And with that Springsteen dedicated “Streets of Minneapolis” to Colbert. The Boss’s choice of song was a poignant one. He wrote and recorded the anti-ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) song following the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January amid Operation Metro Surge, during which undocumented immigrants were targeted and apprehended by ICE.
Then, he premiered the song live in Minneapolis during the Tom Morello-helmed Defend Minnesota benefit concert on Jan. 30. “Streets of Minneapolis” went on to be the highest-selling song in the United States, debuting at No. 1 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart dated Feb. 7, even though it was available for just two days of the tracking period. Springsteen has vowed to donate all proceeds from the recording to the Good and Pretti families, in perpetuity.
Colbert’s final episode of The Late Show will air on Thursday, May 21, drawing curtains on an 11-year run. CBS announced the cancelation in July 2025, citing financial losses. Many observers, however, aren’t buying it, with figures like Senator Elizabeth Warren claiming the axing was political censorship, coming just days after Colbert publicly criticized CBS’s parent company, Paramount, over its $16 million legal settlement with Trump.
Watch Springsteen’s speech and performance here and below.
