On the eve of Christmas, President Donald Trump has unleashed a fresh blast of vitriol at late-night comedy talk shows, saying comedian Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic train wreck” who should be “put to sleep.”
Colbert’s “The Late Show” is scheduled to end in May 2026, a decision his fans say smacks of censorship.
In a late night Truth Social post, Trump wrote that Colbert “has actually gotten worse” since being “terminated by CBS, but left out to dry.”
“Stephen is running on hatred and fumes ~ A dead man walking! CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW,” Trump wrote.
Colbert has hosted the “The Late Show” since 2015 and it has been the highest-rated late night talk show on U.S. television. His opening monologues often take aim at the Republican president.
There was no immediate public response from Colbert or CBS to Trump’s post.
CBS announced the sunsetting of Colbert’s show after one more season in July, the same month its parent company reached a $16 million settlement with Trump. CBS called the cancellation “a purely financial decision.”
Trump had sued Paramount, alleging that CBS News’ “60 Minutes” program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.
In another overnight post, Trump repeated threats to yank the broadcast licenses of networks whose content he deemed overly critical.
“If Network NEWSCASTS, and their Late Night Shows, are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn’t their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated? I say, YES!”
On Sunday, CBS’s new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, pulled a “60 Minutes” segment on alleged torture at El Salvador’s CECOT prison — where Trump sent hundreds of deported Venezuelans — saying it needed more reporting.
In August, Disney-owned ABC briefly suspended its late-night star, Jimmy Kimmel, before bringing him back on a one-year contract.
Kimmel had annoyed conservatives with comments in the wake of the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump appears to be aiming to reshape the U.S. media landscape, which he says is biased against conservatives.
His appointee to head the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, turned heads when he told a Congressional hearing that “the FCC is not formally an independent agency,” implying that his actions could justifiably be aligned with the political priorities of the White House. (JapanToday)
In a TV year that saw four celebrated series accumulate a stunning 97 nominations, the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards guaranteed reasons to cheer.
But it was the triumvirate of “Adolescence,” “The Studio” and “The Pitt” that dominated the show, hosted by Nate Bargatze and airing live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 14.
The British Netflix drama “Adolescence” scored a leading six awards on Sunday, including for Owen Cooper, the youngest-ever supporting actor in a limited series winner at age 15.
Seth Rogen landed his first-ever Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for his role as bumbling studio head Matt Remick in Apple TV+’s “The Studio,” which earned four awards, while the HBO drama “The Pitt,” starring outstanding lead actor in a drama series winner Noah Wyle, scooped up three.
Apple TV+’s “Severance” led this year’s nominations with 27 nods, followed by HBO’s “The Penguin” (24) and “The Studio” and HBO’s “The White Lotus” (23 each).
Eligible programs aired or streamed between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025.
Check out the winners from some of the night’s top categories below.
Outstanding drama series
“Andor” (Disney+)
“The Diplomat” (Netflix)
“The Last of Us” (HBO)
“Paradise” (Hulu)
WINNER: “The Pitt” (HBO Max)
“Severance” (Apple TV+)
“Slow Horses” (Apple TV+)
“The White Lotus” (HBO)
Outstanding lead actor, drama series
Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise” (Hulu)
Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses” (Apple TV+)
Pedro Pascal, “The Last of Us” (HBO)
Adam Scott, “Severance” (Apple TV+)
WINNER: Noah Wyle, “The Pitt” (HBO Max)
Outstanding comedy series
“Abbott Elementary” (ABC)
“The Bear” (FX/Hulu)
“Hacks” (HBO Max)
“Nobody Wants This” (Netflix)
“Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu)
“Shrinking” (Apple TV+)
WINNER: “The Studio” (Apple TV+)
“What We Do in the Shadows” (FX)
Outstanding limited series
WINNER: “Adolescence” (Netflix)
“Black Mirror” (Netflix)
“Dying for Sex” (FX/Hulu)
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” (Netflix)
“The Penguin” (HBO Max)
Outstanding talk series
“The Daily Show” (Comedy Central)
WINNER: “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC)
Outstanding lead actor, limited series/TV movie
Colin Farrell, “The Penguin” (HBO Max)
WINNER: Stephen Graham, “Adolescence” (Netflix)
Jake Gyllenhaal “Presumed Innocent” (Apple TV+)
Brian Tyree Henry, “Dope Thief” (Apple TV+)
Cooper Koch, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” (Netflix)
Outstanding lead actress, limited series/TV movie
Cate Blanchett, “Disclaimer” (Apple TV+)
Meghann Fahy, “Sirens” (Netflix)
Rashida Jones, “Black Mirror” (Netflix)
WINNER: Cristin Milioti, “The Penguin” (HBO Max)
Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex” (FX)
Outstanding variety scripted series
WINNER: “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO)
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Outstanding supporting actor, comedy series
Ike Barinholtz, “The Studio,” (Apple TV+)
Colman Domingo, “The Four Seasons” (Netflix)
Harrison Ford, “Shrinking” (Apple TV+)
WINNER: Jeff Hiller, “Somebody Somewhere” (HBO)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Bear” (FX/Hulu)
Michael Urie, “Shrinking” (Apple TV+)
Bowen Yang, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Outstanding reality competition program
“The Amazing Race” (CBS)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (MTV)
“Survivor” (CBS)
“Top Chef” (Bravo)
WINNER: “The Traitors” (Peacock)
Outstanding supporting actress, comedy series
Liza Colon-Zayas, “The Bear” (FX/Hulu)
WINNER: Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks” (HBO Max)
Kathryn Hahn, “The Studio” (Apple TV+)
Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)
Catherine O’Hara, “The Studio” (Apple TV+)
Sheryl Lee Ralph, “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)
Jessica Williams, “Shrinking” (Apple TV+)
Outstanding lead actress, drama series
Kathy Bates, “Matlock” (CBS)
Sharon Horgan, “Bad Sisters” (Apple TV+)
WINNER: Britt Lower, “Severance” (Apple TV+)
Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us” (HBO)
Keri Russell, “The Diplomat” (Netflix)
Outstanding supporting actor, drama series
Zach Cherry, “Severance” (Apple TV+)
Walton Goggins, “The White Lotus” (HBO)
Jason Isaacs, “The White Lotus” (HBO)
Sam Rockwell, “The White Lotus” (HBO)
WINNER: Tramell Tillman, “Severance” (Apple TV+)
John Turturro, “Severance” (Apple TV+)
Outstanding supporting actress, drama series
Patricia Arquette, “Severance,” (Apple TV+)
Carrie Coon, “The White Lotus” (HBO)
WINNER: Katherine LaNasa, “The Pitt” (HBO Max)
Julianne Nicholson, “Paradise” (Hulu)
Parker Posey, “The White Lotus” (HBO)
Natasha Rothwell, “The White Lotus” (HBO)
Aimee Lou Wood, “The White Lotus” (HBO)
Outstanding lead actress, comedy series
Uzo Aduba, “The Residence” (Netflix)*
Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This” (Netflix)
Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)
Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear” (FX/Hulu)
WINNER: Jean Smart, “Hacks” (HBO Max)
Outstanding lead actor, comedy series
Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This” (Netflix)
WINNER: Seth Rogen, “The Studio” (Apple TV+)
Jason Segel, “Shrinking” (Apple TV+)
Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu)
Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear” (FX/Hulu)
Outstanding TV movie
“Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (Peacock)
“The Gorge” (Apple TV+)
“Mountainhead” (HBO)
“Nonnas” (Netflix)
WINNER: “Rebel Ridge” (Netflix)
Outstanding host, reality or competition program
RuPaul Charles, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (MTV)
Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Daniel Lubetzky, “Shark Tank” (ABC)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026 after 33 years on air, the CBS television network announced in a surprise statement on Thursday.
The move “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television]” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters”, CBS said.
Colbert broke the news at a taping of the show, earlier on Thursday evening, triggering a chorus of boos from the live studio audience.
“I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners,” he said, adding: “And of course, I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here, out there, all around the world.”
The move brings a close to the more than three-decade old programme, leaving the network without a late-night comedy talk show for the first time since 1993.
Colbert, who took over the CBS programme from David Letterman in 2015, has become one of US President Donald Trump’s staunchest critics on late-night TV.
The presenter was informed of the decision to cancel his show on Wednesday night, he told the audience during his Thursday monologue.
“Yeah, I share your feeling,” he said as the crowd in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York shouted “no” and booed.
“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” he continued. “It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it.”
The announcement comes two weeks after CBS parent company Paramount settled a lawsuit with Trump stemming from a CBS interview with his 2024 election rival Kamala Harris.
The Late Show was created by CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, in 1993 as a competitor to NBC’s own talk show. It came after a dispute between hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno over who should succeed Johnny Carson on the wildly-popular Tonight Show.
Before taking over the job at The Late Show, Colbert had been the host of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central – a programme which skewered US conservative politics and culture.
The announcement of the ending of the programme came amid talks between Paramount and Skydance Media to merge the two companies, a move that would require approval from the US federal government.
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff posted on X on Thursday that he had finished taping an interview with Colbert just before the cancellation was announced.
He questioned whether the announcement was tied to the $16m (£12m) settlement the network agreed to pay to Trump, writing: “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserved to know”.
Another US senator, Elizabeth Warren, echoed those sentiments, posting on X: “America deserves to know if his show was cancelled for political reasons.”
The settlement came after Trump sued CBS last October alleging the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party”.
Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, not paid to him “directly or indirectly”. (BBC)
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