Late-Night Feud Heats Up: Trump Claims Credit for Colbert’s Exit, Predicts More Cancellations

President Takes Aim at Fallon and Kimmel’s Futures, While Kimmel Responds with a Playful Jab and a Show Plug

Washington, DC [US]: Late-night TV has turned into an unexpected battleground, and President Donald Trump is once again getting involved. Trump has taken blame for CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ending in May 2026. He has also predicted that NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! will terminate in the same way.

Trump talked about Colbert’s show being canceled in a post on Truth Social. He said, “Everyone is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night.” No, that’s not true! He was fired because he didn’t have any talent, and CBS was losing $50 million a year because of it. It was only going to get worse!

He didn’t stop there; he quickly turned his attention to other well-known late-night hosts. “Next up will come Jimmy Kimmel, who is even less gifted, and then Jimmy Fallon, who is weak and very insecure. The only real question is who will go first? Trump added to his thoughts on the entertainment sector. “Show Biz and TV is a very simple business.” You can say or do anything if you earn ratings. You always end up becoming a victim if you don’t. Colbert became a victim of himself, and the other two will follow.

Trump has gone after these hosts in public before, and they have often criticized him on their shows. CBS said that The Late Show was canceled for financial reasons, but some people have questioned the timing, as it happened right after CBS’s parent company, Paramount, resolved a lawsuit with Trump. But other reports say that Colbert’s show had good ratings on linear TV, but not as good as its competitors when it came to streaming money for Paramount+, which is very important in today’s media world.

It’s interesting that Seth Meyers, who hosts NBC’s Late Night, hasn’t been in Trump’s public sights as much, even though he has been criticizing Trump’s scandals, including the growing Epstein saga, in his famous “A Closer Look” segment.

Jimmy Kimmel, who is on vacation right now, quickly responded to Trump’s direct challenge. Kimmel went on Instagram to make a joke and a smart advertisement at the same time. Kimmel joked, “I know you’re busy Sharpie-ing the Epstein files, but this seems like a weird way to tell people to watch Matt Damon and Ken Jennings on an all-new Who Wants to Be a Millionaire tomorrow night at 8|7c on ABC.” This was a reference to his long-running “feud” with Matt Damon and the fact that Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings would be on the show.

The ongoing public exchange shows how political current late-night TV is and how willing public personalities, even a former President, are to talk directly to its hosts. As the industry tries to keep up with changing viewing habits and business models, people are still talking a lot about the future of these late-night classics.