Trump Joins Celebration of Stephen Colbert’s Show Cancellation
President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to express his delight over the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s late-night show. In a post, Trump claimed that Colbert’s talent was even less than his ratings, and he also mocked other late-night hosts, including Jimmy Kimmel and the late-night hosts at NBC. This comes as Colbert, a longtime critic of Trump, had recently appeared on his show to discuss the Trump administration’s settlement with the Trump lawsuit, which sparked controversy among CBS staff and viewers.
Colbert, who took over the CBS show from David Letterman in 2015, became a major platform for Democratic politicians. Last month, Colbert welcomed New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani before the socialist hopeful clinched the Democratic nomination. On Thursday, the same day he announced his cancellation effective next May, his first guest was Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
The cancellation of Colbert’s show is seen by some as a result of the network’s decision to end the late-night show due to financial reasons. CBS said in a statement that the long-running late-night show will end in May 2026, but it was ‘purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,’ adding, ‘It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.’
There had been speculation about the future of the Paramount-owned late-night programs, which also includes ‘The Daily Show’ on Comedy Central, as its planned corporate merger with Skydance Media is expected to take place later this year.
Colbert was outspoken against the settlement, calling it a ‘big fat bribe’ to the Trump administration. He joked about being pressured by studio heads earlier this week. ‘Some of the TV typers out there are blogging that once Skydance gets CBS, the new owners’ desire to please Trump will ‘put pressure on late-night host and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert,’’ Colbert joked. ‘OK, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert… if they can’t find him?’
Meanwhile, Fox News Channel’s ‘Gutfeld!’ has surged to become late-night’s highest-rated program. In the second quarter of 2025, the show, hosted by Fox star Greg Gutfeld, notched 3 million viewers and 365,000 in the 25-54 age demographic at the 10 p.m. ET hour. In addition to routing cable news competition, ‘Gutfeld!’ outpaced all broadcast and late-night television, including ‘The Late Show’ and other such established programs as Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show,’ ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ and NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon’ and ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers.’