Well, buckle up, because late‑night TV just took a wild turn and President Trump is pouring salt—no, make that an entire shaker—on the wound.
CBS has announced it’s pulling the plug on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” after next season, and the former president wasted no time firing off a trolling victory lap on Truth Social.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump wrote Friday morning, practically grinning through the screen. “His talent was even less than his ratings.” And in classic Trump fashion, he didn’t stop there. “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next,” he added, twisting the knife. “Has even less talent than Colbert!”
Then, like a showman who knows how to keep the hits coming, Trump crowned Fox’s Greg Gutfeld as king of late night, calling him “better than all of them combined,” and—just to make sure nobody was left out—he took a swipe at Jimmy Fallon, the “moron on NBC who ruined the once great “Tonight Show”.”
Now, let’s step back. Colbert wasn’t some struggling host with a cult following. He’s been the ratings champ of late night, holding the top spot ever since he took over from David Letterman in 2015. But the show’s sharp political edge—dropping the old “Colbert Report” persona to lean unapologetically left—made him a favorite punching bag for Trump and conservative audiences.
And that political edge flared up just three days before the cancellation news when Colbert publicly shredded Paramount, CBS’s parent company, over a $16 million settlement paid to Trump related to a “60 Minutes” interview.
Colbert joked it looked like a “big fat bribe” and said $16 million might be what it takes to rebuild his trust in the network.
Fast forward a few days and—bam—CBS says the show is ending. Officially, executives call it a financial decision, pointing to the rocky economics of late night. But Democrats like Senator Adam Schiff aren’t buying it, tweeting that if politics played a part, “the public deserves to know.” Senator Elizabeth Warren chimed in too, questioning the timing and calling for transparency.
Meanwhile, Paramount is in the middle of a high‑stakes merger with Skydance Media, helmed by David Ellison, whose father, Larry Ellison, happens to be a longtime Trump supporter. That deal still needs federal approval, which only adds more intrigue to an already dramatic storyline.
So here we are: Colbert’s show is headed for the exit, Trump is spiking the football, and late night TV—once the cozy, uncontroversial corner of American culture—is suddenly ground zero in a political crossfire that just keeps getting louder. Stay tuned.
