Daijiworld Media Network- Washington
Washington, Jul 30: US President Donald Trump has taken a fresh swipe at late-night television, claiming the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was due to a “pure lack of TALENT” and mounting financial losses. Trump made the statement in a post on his platform Truth Social, days after CBS announced the show would conclude in May 2026, ending a 33-year legacy on American television.
“Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night. That is not true!” Trump wrote, adding, “The reason he was fired was a pure lack of TALENT, and the fact that this deficiency was costing CBS $50 Million Dollars a year in losses — And it was only going to get WORSE!”
Trump didn’t stop there — he went on to suggest that other late-night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon could soon follow. “Next up will be an even less talented Jimmy Kimmel, and then, a weak, and very insecure, Jimmy Fallon. The only real question is, who will go first?”
While Trump distanced himself from CBS’s decision, the timing of the announcement raised eyebrows, particularly as it came shortly after Paramount Global — CBS’s parent company — settled a legal dispute with Trump over a 60 Minutes segment involving his 2024 opponent Kamala Harris. The former President had accused the network of political bias.
CBS, however, maintained that the move to end The Late Show was purely financial, citing a “challenging backdrop” in the late-night television industry. “It’s not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters,” the network clarified, according to BBC.
During the taping where he broke the news, Colbert told a stunned audience at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theatre, “It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”
Colbert, 61, took over the reins of The Late Show from David Letterman in 2015 and quickly became one of Trump's most vocal critics on American television. Conservative media outlets have often accused the programme of liberal bias. A report by MRC NewsBusters highlighted that the show hosted 176 liberal guests and just one Republican between 2022 and 2025.
Industry experts also point to ongoing merger discussions between Paramount and Skydance Media, which would require government approval, as a possible contributing factor to the network’s decision.
If The Late Show concludes as scheduled, CBS will be without a late-night comedy programme for the first time since 1993 — marking the end of an era.