Sandra Oh caused a stir with recent comments on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in which she criticized the show’s cancellation. The Emmy-winning actress, whose credits include Killing Eve and Grey’s Anatomy, referenced CBS and Paramount Studios, by wishing “a plague” on both their houses, a dramatic choice of words that split viewers.
Oh expressed shock at the cancellation and called it a blow to “free speech” and culture.
"If I can have your hand... To CBS and Paramount - a plague on both of your houses," Sandra Oh said while on the show.
sandra oh wishing a plague on cbs and paramount on steven colbert’s show she’s everything pic.twitter.com/Ss8ma1lq7K
— kaitlyn dever emmy campaign manager (@captnmarvl) July 22, 2025
As the studio audience responded with a mix of gasps and applause, Colbert pivoted modestly to thank CBS for partnering with him.
"I'm very grateful. I think they've been great partners," Colbert remarked.
According to Yahoo News, decade after it became a late-night television staple, Colbert’s show has often featured biting political satire. Its cancellation due to bad ratings, has set off debates about the future of free speech in entertainment.
Oh’s comments set social media ablaze. Supporters applauded her for calling attention to corporate decisions that affected creative voices, while critics criticized her comments as over-the-top and political. Tony Dokoupil, correspondent for CBS, later explained that the cancellation of the late night show was a business decision, not a political one.
Sandra Oh was born on July 20, 1971, in Nepean (now Ottawa), Canada. The daughter of South Korean immigrants (her father is a businessman, her mother a biochemist), Oh, on the other hand, showed interest in acting from an early age.
According to Britannica, she started acting in plays and sketch comedies at school from a young age. Her early credits include television commercials, a small television part, and the short film The Journey Home (1989). She later went on to graduate from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1993.
Sandra Oh received critical notice for her performance as a Chinese Canadian teenager in the American film Double Happiness (1994), a role that won the actress a Genie Award for Best Actress.
In 1996 she moved to Los Angeles and landed the role of Rita Wu on HBO’s Arli$$, which ran through seven seasons; at the same time, she was in films including Bean (1997) and The Red Violin (1998). Her defining role was of Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy; she won a Golden Globe for her portrayal in 2006 and collected five Emmy nominations.
In addition to live-action roles, Sandra Oh has brought her voice to animated projects such as Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and Turning Red (2022). She became the first Asian woman to win multiple Golden Globes and score an Emmy nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Drama.
TOPICS: Human Interest, CBS, Killing Eve, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Sandra Oh, Stephen Colbert, Paramount, Paramount Studios