President Donald Trump has taken aim at The Late Show presenter Stephen Colbert in the wake of the program’s final episode airing this week.
The long-running late-night franchise has been a fixture on TV for around 30 years, first launching under David Letterman after he introduced the show in the early 1990s.
Back in July, CBS and its parent company Paramount confirmed the series was heading for its conclusion, sharing a statement about the decision.
They said: “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season.
“We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time.
“This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Even with that explanation, some viewers continued to speculate that the show’s cancellation may have also been influenced by Colbert’s frequent criticism of Trump.
After the announcement that Colbert’s highly rated late-night slot would be ending, Trump posted on Truth Social: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
Colbert later responded during a monologue with a blunt message for the president: “Go f**k yourself.”
After the finale aired, Trump was asked what he thought about Colbert and the end of the series.
He then uploaded an AI-generated video to Truth Social depicting him tossing Colbert into a trash can.
In the clip, Trump is shown walking onto a set, grabbing Colbert by the jacket, and dragging him across the studio.
He then drops him into a green bin while ‘YMCA’ plays.
Trump also shared another post that read: “Colbert is finally finished at CBS. Amazing that he lasted so long! No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person. You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he’s finally gone!”
Colbert’s final installment drew an audience of 6.7 million and included notable guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Bryan Cranston, and Ryan Reynolds.
During one segment, Colbert told the band to play music he joked would be expensive for the network because of licensing.
“Peanuts is a powerful brand and corporation in and of itself,” he said.
“Anyone illegally using that music is gonna have to pay through the nose.”
He then pressed the band’s frontman on what they were playing: “Lewis, is the band right now playing the same peanuts music that I just said people are being sued for, for using without permission? Is that what you’re doing?”
To which he replied: “Yes”.
“Oh no! I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money!” Colbert joked.