Donald Trump is happy The Late Show With Stephen Colbert is over.
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The president celebrated the show coming to a close and attacked its host on social media.
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Trump called Colbert a "total jerk," adding, "Thank goodness he’s finally gone!"
Donald Trumpis gloating overStephen Colbertlosing his job less than 24 hours afterThe Late Showaired its final episode.
The president attacked the late-night host ina Truth Social postearly Friday morning, calling him a “total jerk” and comparing his onstage presence to that of a dead man.
“Colbert is finally finished at CBS. Amazing that he lasted so long!” Trump wrote. “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!” he continued.
Trump previously warned reporters thathe would send “a message” to Colbert afterThe Late Showconcluded its historic 33-year run on Thursday.
Colbert, meanwhile, celebrated his last episode ofThe Late Showwith an uplifting sendoff that madeno mention of Trump at all. Instead, the finale saw Colbert visited by his fellow late-night hosts John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel , a.k.a. "Strike Force Five." There were cameos by Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, and Ryan Reynolds. And, finally, the former Beatle himselfPaul McCartneysat down foran interview with the host and performed "Hello, Goodbye"with the house band, Colbert, and Elvis Costello, as audience and crew members danced on stage.
CBS announced last summer thatThe Late Showwould come to an end in May, calling the move “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” Reports have suggested the network was losing upwards of $40 million a year on the production.
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However, others have speculated that Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media, which required approval from Trump's Federal Communications Commission at the time, may have been a potential cause for the show’s shuttering. Especially since Colbert had been critical of the merger on his show prior to its cancellation.
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Trump previously denied any involvement inThe Late Show's demise.
“Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night. That is not true!”he wrote on Truth Social. “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!”
FormerLate ShowhostDavid Lettermanrecently claimed that top brass at Paramount Global and Skydance Media"dumped” Colbert so that he couldn't make any more “trouble” for CBS.
“I’m just going to go on record as saying: They're lying," Letterman toldThe New York Times. "Let me just add one other thing... They're lying weasels."
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