Stephen Colbert has stuck CBS with the bill after he used the Peanuts TV specials’ theme song without permission during The Late Show’s finale.
The network struck a deal to pay an undisclosed amount to Lee Mendelson Film Productions Inc., after Colbert’s house band played composer Vince Guaraldi’s famous song “Linus and Lucy” during the late night show’s last-ever episode, according to Variety.
During the May 21 finale, the show’s band Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine began to perform “Linus and Lucy” while Colbert spoke about how the owners of the Peanuts catalog had been cracking down on copyrights for the Guaraldi song catalog.
“Anyone illegally using that music is gonna have to pay through the nose,” Colbert explained. As his band played the song, he then joked, “Oh no! I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money!”
As part of CBS’s agreement, LMFP will donate the licensing fee amount to World Central Kitchen, the non-profit organization created by Chef José Andrés. The food relief organization had also received a $2.5 million donation from The Late Show during the show’s penultimate episode.
“LMFP found the music's use on The Late Show funny and entertaining, and is proud to support World Central Kitchen's mission,” Jason Mendelson, the chairman of LMFP, said in a press release. “A principal goal of our enforcement actions is to educate individuals, businesses, and government entities about the need to obtain written license agreements to use music in a commercial setting.”
CBS did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment.
It comes after LMFP filed a series of lawsuits against several defendants for unauthorized use earlier this year, including the U.S. Department of the Interior.
In May, the company — which owns the copyright to the 1965 special A Charlie Brown Christmas — filed a suit arguing that the Interior Department did not have permission to use Guaraldi’s arrangement of “O Tannenbaum” from the holiday special in a digital card posted to social media.
In addition to the Trump administration, LMFP brought legal action against a video game producer, a collectibles auction house and an apparel accessories manufacturer.
The company said in the press release: “The lawsuits are intended to halt a pattern of infringement that threatens to diminish the integrity of these protected works, the Guaraldi music legacy, and other cherished creative content vulnerable to misuse in the modern media landscape.”
Colbert leaving CBS with the possibility of a lawsuit from LMFP was one of the jabs that the comedian aimed at the network after his show was cancelled last July. The cancellation was announced just days after Colbert criticized the network’s parent company, Paramount, for reaching a $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over accusations of deceptive editing — which Colbert later described as a “big fat bribe.”
