US President Donald Trump has called late-night show host Stephen Colbert a “walking dead man” and called for him to be taken off the air immediately.
“Stephen Colbert is a pathetic wreck with no talent or anything necessary to succeed in show business,” Trump wrote. “After being fired by CBS and left out to dry, he went from bad to worse with ratings that didn't really exist.”
President Trump said Colbert was “fueled with hate and anger.”
“There's a dead man walking! CBS should 'put him to sleep' now. That's the humane thing to do,” Trump added in his late-night condemnation.
Screenshot of Donald Trump's Truth Social post.
@realDonaldTrump / Truth Social
In a subsequent post, Trump asked, “Who is the worst late-night host on CBS, ABC, or NBC? They all have three things in common: High pay, no talent, and very low ratings!”
“If a network's newscast and its late-night programming are nearly 100% negative toward President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn't we suspend its invaluable broadcast license? I say YES,” Trump added.
Screenshot of Donald Trump's Truth Social post.
@realDonaldTrump / Truth Social
Trump appeared to be taking aim at Colbert after CBS rebroadcast the Dec. 8 episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” hours after Trump aired the Kennedy Center professor emeritus program.
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This is not the first time Mr. Trump has taken aim at Mr. Colbert this year.
In July, the US president celebrated CBS' decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, whose final episode was scheduled to air in May 2026.
“I'm so glad Colbert was fired. His talent was even worse than he was given credit for,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Colbert responded to Trump with a few choice words in his show's opening monologue.
“All weekend I thought they were going to cancel our show, but they made one mistake: They left me alive,” Colbert said, looking straight into the camera. “And for the next 10 months, the gloves are off. I can finally speak the unvarnished truth to power and say what I really think about Donald Trump now.”
Colbert said he “doesn't care” about Trump, adding that he doesn't think Trump is “capable of being president” or “fit.”
Colbert then read Trump's post from Truth Social, then turned to the Eloquence Cam and said, “Well, how can a person with no talent even write such satirical wit? Go ahead and do it yourself.”
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President Trump responded to Colbert, insisting he had nothing to do with the show's cancellation.
In late July, President Trump said in a post on Truth Social that “everyone” believed he was “solely responsible” for the end of his late-night talk show, a rumor he called “untrue.”
“Everyone says I was solely responsible for firing Stephen Colbert from CBS' Late Night,” Trump wrote. “That's not true. The reason he was fired was purely for lack of talent, and the fact that this lack was costing CBS $50 million a year meant it only got worse!”
President Trump went on to claim that “the next person to lose his job will be an even less talented Jimmy Kimmel,” followed by “a weak and very unstable Jimmy Fallon.”
“The only real question is who makes the first move. Showbiz and television is a very simple business. If you can get ratings, you can say and do anything. If you don't, you're always the victim,” Trump wrote. “Colbert became a victim of his own, and the other two will follow suit.”
In August, President Trump doubled down on his claims that late-night hosts Kimmel and Fallon would be the next to lose their jobs.
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