President Donald Trump couldn’t be happier about the cancellation of “The Late Show.” In fact, he’s taking partial credit for it.
In a post to Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump celebrated the upcoming end of host Stephen Colbert‘s stint behind the desk and suggested that other late-night shows might be next.
“The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, [Jimmy] Fallon will be gone,” Trump wrote. “It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”
Colbert and CBS announced the end of the series last week. The show began under late-night legend David Letterman will wrap in May after more than 30 years on the air. Trump reacted to that announcement with more praise on Friday morning.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” the president wrote. “His talent was even less than his ratings.”
Colbert responded to Trump’s celebratory post with a warning that “the gloves are off.”
“Go f**k yourself,” Colbert said. “I can finally speak unvarnished truth to power and say what I really think about Donald Trump, starting right now: I don’t care for him. Doesn’t seem to have the skill set to be president. Just not a good fit.”
CBS claimed their decision to end the show was “purely” financial. Critics of the move aren’t so sure, pointing out that Colbert’s slow-motion axing came after the host accused CBS’ parent company of paying the president a “big, fat bribe.” Paramount recently agreed to settle a Trump lawsuit over a segment on CBS’ “60 Minutes” for $16 million. The move comes as the company is seeking to merge with Skydance Media, a move that requires the approval of the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission.
During Colbert’s monologue on Monday, he promised as much to keep poking the network and Paramount.
“It’s sunk in that they’re killing off our show, but they made one mistake,” Colbert said. “They left me alive.”
