CBS has reached a licensing deal after Stephen Colbert played copyrighted Peanuts music during the final taping of The Late Show, turning an on-air joke into a formal resolution. The agreement covers “Linus and Lucy,” and the proceeds will be donated to World Central Kitchen.
Lee Mendelson Film Productions said on Tuesday, June 16, that it had reached a resolution with CBS over the episode. The company did not say how much CBS paid, but the deal gives the network a license for the song rather than leaving the use in dispute.
Colbert had signaled the risk himself on air. “I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money!” he joked, after asking whether the band was playing the same Peanuts music he had just mentioned as a song people were being sued over for using without permission. Louis Cato kept the music going, and Colbert’s line turned what looked like a throwaway bit into the kind of moment that can land a network in trouble.
That mattered because the rights holder was already pressing the issue. Last month, Lee Mendelson Film Productions filed four infringement lawsuits claiming its music had been repeatedly used without permission, and Jason Mendelson later said the use on The Late Show was funny and entertaining while also stressing that the company’s enforcement work is meant to push people toward written license agreements for commercial use.
Lee Mendelson Film Productions owns Vince Guaraldi’s iconic jazz scores to A Charlie Brown Christmas and other Peanuts television specials, so the dispute was never just about one gag on one night. It was about whether a famous piece of music could be used in a commercial setting without the paperwork that normally comes with it, even when the use lands as a joke.
The resolution closes the loop in a way that fits the moment better than a fight would have. CBS gets the license, the song is cleared after the fact, and the money goes to World Central Kitchen. What remains unanswered is the amount, which CBS has not disclosed; that leaves the size of the payment as the one part of the deal the public still cannot measure.
