In one of his standard TruthSocial rants, President Donald Trump complained Tuesday that he was getting blamed for Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” cancellation ― even though he once explicitly called for CBS to “terminate” the host.
“Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night. That is not true!” Trump raged. “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!”
Amid his legal battles with CBS’s parent company Paramount Global, Trump explicitly called for the network to “terminate” Colbert’s contract in September, saying he could “recommend someone, much more talented, and smarter, who would do it for FREE!”
While CBS has said the cancellation was “purely a financial decision,” and expected losses have been reported by some media outlets, Paramount hasn’t provided a figure. “The Late Show” was the most highly rated late night program in its time slot.
Critics, including some prominent Democrats, have speculated that the “Late Show” cancellation was a result of Paramount’s settlement with Trump, who’d sued the media conglomerate for $20 billion over an episode of CBS News’ “60 Minutes.” Trump claimed that the episode, which featured an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, was deceptively edited to increase her chances of beating him in the presidential election.
