President Donald Trump has finally delivered on the message he promised to give departing talk show host Stephen Colbert.
On Wednesday, Trump, 79, teased that he would make a comment on Colbert’s final episode of The Late Show “at a later date.”
In a bitter Truth Social message posted just before 2 a.m., Trump took a parting shot at the host following his finale.
“Colbert is finally finished at CBS,” Trump wrote. “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 ended his 11-year run on the CBS late-night show on Thursday.
The finale was attended by musician Paul McCartney, as well as a string of A-list appearances from frequent Late Show guests, including Paul Rudd, Bryan Cranston, and Ryan Reynolds.
The show finished with McCartney and Colbert pulling the power switch after the former Beatle played the classic “Hello Goodbye.”
CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show in July last year, just three days after Colbert, 62, slammed the network’s MAGA-friendly parent company, Paramount, for its $16 million settlement with Trump.
Trump repeatedly insulted Colbert on social media, but distanced himself from the axing at the time.
“Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night,” he posted on Truth Social last year. “That is not true! 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!”
The president’s message to Colbert recycled language from a previous insult he aimed at the late-night TV host back in 2024, when he wrote, “CBS should terminate his contract and pick almost anyone, right off the street, who would do better, and for FAR LESS MONEY.”
The Late Show fans who were interviewed outside the Ed Sullivan Theater on Thursday weren’t buying Trump’s claim that he was uninvolved in the show’s cancellation.
“It’s heartbreaking to see how one man can silence a whole nation,” Joshua McGehee told CNN, ahead of watching Colbert’s final show.
“When Colbert can be silenced for being critical, it puts everyone at tension to be themselves and to speak their minds.”
Alan Tipert told CNN he came from Georgia “to witness the death of free speech.”
He added, “Everybody knows you don‘t cancel the number one show in late night because it‘s not making money. You do it because you don‘t like what he‘s saying. It just doesn‘t make sense.”
Colbert told People this week, ahead of his finale, that he had “no fear” of the Trump administration.
“I mean, how silly would it be? The ending of the show aside, which people can speculate about all they want, and I can’t argue with their speculations, but we’re clowns. How much does it diminish the office of the presidency to even notice what we say?”
