Batiste, who previously served as band leader on Colbert’s show from 2015 to 2022, was speaking in a recent interview with Rolling Stone Australia/New Zealand when he defended the talk show host.

“I’m very grateful to him and I think where he goes next, his voice won’t be silenced,” Batiste told the outlet, before adding: “The voice of free speech is challenge, but the soul of an individual cannot be cancelled. He’s gonna find another megaphone, another outlet, I’m sure of it. I’m rooting for him.”

When the American television network CBS cancelled Colbert’s The Late Show, which has been running for over a decade, they said it was a “purely financial decision”. However, Colbert recently publicly criticised his network’s settlement with Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, which has led to much public speculation about the real reason for the show’s cancellation.

Subsequently, this sparked a row and major support for Colbert from a range of figures, including fellow talk show hosts such as Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, and David Letterman.

Batiste, who previously led his group Stay Human as the show’s house band, joined these calls by stating: “What happened to my friend Stephen is a symptom of big money.”

He then added: “We’re in a time where the right price can silence the voice of free speech, which we should be very, very conscious of. As artists, we have to constantly fight for free speech and fight for the ability to be able to share the authentic truth of our being.”

Colbert is potentially not going to be the only talk show host axed from their roles for politically-motivated reasons, as Trump issued a warning to both Fallon and Kimmel in the aftermath of The Late Show’s cancellation that they could be next in the firing line.