Trump loves that 'Colbert got fired,' hopes Kimmel is next

Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News on Jul 18, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump could not contain his glee over CBS’ cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” — and he predicted that ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel would be next to get the ax.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” the president wrote Friday in a post on Truth Social. “His talent was even less than his ratings.”

Trump added that he heard Kimmel “is next” and that he “has even less talent than Colbert!”

“Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show,” Trump said, throwing in an apparent dig at Jimmy Fallon as well.

Gutfeld’s eponymous show airs on Fox an hour before most major late night shows begin.

CBS’s decision to yank Colbert off the air came weeks after its parent company, Paramount Global, announced it had agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit alleging a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris was deceptively edited.

Colbert later referred to the settlement as a “a big fat bribe,” given that Paramount is currently seeking government approval for an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.

“As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended,” he said. “And I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company, but just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”

Colbert on Thursday then confirmed during a live taping Thursday that the “network will be ending the show in May [2026].”

The news was met with audible boos from the crowd as well as a wave of reactions online. Many expressed their dismay over the cancellation while others voiced their support for Colbert, Kimmel among them.

“Love you, Stephen,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “F--k you and all your Sheldons, CBS.”

His comment is an apparent reference to “The Big Bang Theory,” which has spawned several spin-offs on CBS, including “Young Sheldon” and “Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage.” A third, “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” was also announced earlier this month.

CBS in a statement defended its decision as a “purely a financial one against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

Colbert took over hosting duties in 2015 after the retirement of David Letterman, who joined the network in 1993. The show has routinely been the highest-rated late-night program during Colbert’s tenure.