LDH “Stephen Colbert takes center stage as the ‘Stand With Public Media’ Gala honors voices shaping the future of broadcasting.
NEW YORK — The host of CBS’s soon-to-conclude late-night talk program at 11:35pm Eastern/Pacific and producer and arts advocate Evelyn McGee Colbert are among those set to be saluted at a “Stand with Public Media” Gala scheduled for November 18 at The Glasshouse in the City of New York.
The event comes courtesy of WNYC-AM & FM and WQXR parent New York Public Radio (NYPR), and the evening will honor Stephen Colbert; The New Yorker editor David Remnick; and Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation. The reason? NYPR selected each individual “for their unwavering commitment to freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”
Colbert’s program has become the target of conservatives who believe his content has been one-sided and favors liberal and Democratic themes and points of view. That narrative was played up with the decision by CBS to conclude The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at the end of the 2025-2026 broadcast season — a move that came within days of the closing of Skydance Media’s acquisition of Paramount. CBS executives insisted it was not a condition of the FCC’s approval of the merger and rather a business decision.
For NYPR, the gala comes just months after Congress voted to rescind previously approved federal funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “The evening will celebrate public media’s immeasurable contributions to local journalism, civic conversation, and safeguarding democracy,” the parent of WNYC and WQXR said.
The gala follows the announcement of WNYC’s fall fundraising messaging “You Can’t Defund the Truth,” which “captures the irrepressible drive of journalists to report facts, even in the face of opposition.”
The evening will be hosted by Richard Kind. Performances and special appearances will include those from Broadway and feature film stars Ben Platt and Annaleigh Ashford.
The evening will also include a separately ticketed after-party to give WNYC and WQXR supporters another chance to mingle, with a special music set by DJ Questlove.
