In a scorching monologue on Monday, Stephen Colbert delivered a flat-out “Go f*** yourself” to President Donald Trump after the latter bragged about The Late Show cancellation on CBS. The sarcastic reply, followed after Trump bragged on Truth Social, in which he wrote, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired.”
His talent was worse than his ranking.” CBS formally announced the program’s May 2026 cancellation on budgetary grounds, but its timing, days following Colbert tearing apart a $16 million deal between Trump’s target, CBS parent Paramount, and Trump, fueled conspiracy theories of political agenda.
Colbert’s Spiteful Rebuttal
Colbert, who has been hosting The Late Show since 2015, was not diplomatic. He disparaged Trump’s boast in his opening monologue, lampooning the president with a sketch titled “Eloquence Cam,” blue-balling the offending obscenity in an imitation New York accent, eliciting uproarious applause.
He also dismissed Trump’s insult of Jimmy Kimmel, declaring gravely, “Nope, Kimmel, I am the martyr. There’s only room for one on this cross! ” The host promised to “keep the gloves off” for the final 10 months of the show, which is a foretaste of pungent commentary. Supporters rallying outside the Ed Sullivan Theater echoed his defiance, chanting “Trump has got to go, Colbert should stay.”
Cancellation Sparks Political Blunders
CBS insists that The Late Show cancellation was “strictly financial,” even though it is the highest-rated late-night broadcast program.”. But the move came after Colbert’s scathing denunciation of Paramount’s $16 million Trump payment for a 60 Minutes edit interview, which he called a “big fat bribe” to obtain FCC approval for Paramount’s $8 billion Skydance takeover. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff called for transparency, asking whether the action was politically motivated. Warren pointed to the suspicious timing, while Schiff said, “The public deserves to know.”
Late-Night Solidarity and Trump’s Wider Assault
Trump’s Truth Social post concluded with Colbert; he went after Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, saluting Fox News’s Greg Gutfeld specifically. Colbert’s late-night peers stood in solidarity with him, with Kimmel denouncing CBS and Fallon labeling Colbert “one of the sharpest, funniest hosts.”
The cancellation comes on the tail of CBS’s other recent cancellation, After Midnight, and both highlight late-night television’s issues with decreased ad revenue and viewers. But Colbert’s ratings victory and the political circumstances portend something greater than economics behind it, spurring debate about media censorship in Trump’s shadow.
