President Trump celebrated the end of Stephen Colbert’s show with a scathing social media post.
Colbert, who Trump branded as a “total jerk,” starred in the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Thursday night.
“Colbert is finally finished at CBS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Amazing that he lasted so long!
“No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person,” the president claimed. “You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk.”
Trump added, “Thank goodness he’s finally gone!”
CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show in July last year, with Colbert having helmed the show for 11 seasons. Previously, the program had been fronted by David Letterman.
“I absolutely love that Colbert’ (sic) got fired,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in July 2025, referencing the news of the show’s cancellation. “His talent was even less than his ratings.”
At the time, CBS described the cancellation as “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,” the statement continued.
Colbert had previously criticised a settlement between Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company, and Trump. The former agreed to pay the latter $16 million to settle a lawsuit over edits made to a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Colbert described the settlement as a “big fat bribe.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
“As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended,” Colbert joked. “And I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company, but just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”
At the time, Paramount and Skydance Media were navigating a huge merger, which later went ahead.
During the final episode of The Late Show, Colbert joked that he was meant to be joined by Pope Leo XIV to bring the franchise’s 33-year run to an end.
“The Pope, who was definitely my guest tonight, has canceled,” he said. “We already sent the other stars away. This is terrible.
“Who’s going to be my last guest now?”
Colbert was joined by music legend Sir Paul McCartney, who reminisced about the early days of The Beatles performing at the Ed Sullivan Theater, where The Late Show was filmed.
McCartney explained that the music the band loved came from the United States and that, at the time, he believed the U.S. to be “the land of the free, the greatest democracy.”
“Yes, that was what it was. That’s what it still is, hopefully,” he added.
McCartney went on to play The Beatles’ hit Hello, Goodbye as the show began to draw to a close.
Other celebrities who made appearances throughout the program included Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, Ryan Reynolds and Tig Notaro.
In one segment, Colbert was joined by fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and John Oliver.
