Lee Mendelson Film Productions said Tuesday it reached a resolution with CBS after Stephen Colbert played the Peanuts theme "Linus and Lucy" during the final taping of The Late Show last month, and CBS will take a license for the song.
The agreement, announced June 16, directs the proceeds from the license to World Central Kitchen, the companies said. Jason Mendelson said, "LMFP found the music’s use on The Late Show funny and entertaining, and is proud to support World Central Kitchen’s mission." A spokeswoman for CBS confirmed the agreement but declined to comment further.
The move closes the most immediate legal exposure that followed Colbert’s sign-off from an 11-year run as host. The Peanuts music appeared during the episode after Colbert quipped on camera, "I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money!" and warned earlier, "Anyone illegally using that music is going to have to pay through the nose." He then asked the band, "Is the band right now playing the same Peanuts music I just said people were being sued for, for using without permission? Is that what you’re doing?" Bandleader Louis Cato kept playing as the show moved on.
The resolution came roughly a month after the taping and amid a broader enforcement effort by Lee Mendelson Film Productions. Last month, the company launched a legal blitz, filing four infringement lawsuits over repeated unauthorized uses of its recordings of Vince Guaraldi’s scores, the company said.
Context matters here: LMFP controls the iconic jazz scores to A Charlie Brown Christmas and other Peanuts specials, and it had been actively pursuing alleged unauthorized uses across media. There was speculation on social media that CBS had pre-cleared the episode or that a blanket license covered such uses; the language of the June 16 announcement and the company confirmations suggest no such pre-existing permission was in the public record.
The friction is simple and concrete. If CBS had already held a license or cleared the clip, the filing of a licensing deal would have been redundant; the fact that CBS is now taking a license and that LMFP framed the outcome as a resolution implies the matter was settled after the broadcast rather than before it. CBS’s spokeswoman declined to explain whether the license was negotiated before or after the show aired.
For viewers and rights holders the practical effect is immediate: the song’s televised appearance will be covered by the new license and the money will benefit World Central Kitchen. For those tracking rights and broadcast clearances, the unresolved question — and the most consequential one left on the table — is whether CBS had permission before Colbert rolled into the punchline. The companies’ statements answer the short-term legal exposure but stop short of clarifying whether the license is retroactive or was obtained only after the episode ran.
In short: the stephen colbert finale music license has been settled in form — CBS will take a license and the proceeds go to charity — but the record remains unclear on whether the network cleared the music in advance or only negotiated protection after the broadcast, a gap CBS declined to fill in its one-line confirmation.
