Trump says he didn’t get Colbert canceled
President Trump on Tuesday sought to distance himself from a decision by CBS and the network’s parent company, Paramount, to cancel “The Late Show” with host Stephen Colbert, a move that has sparked widespread criticism and accusations of federal bribery.
“Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night. That is not true,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. “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!”
Trump initially celebrated Colbert’s cancellation, which the network said was a financially necessary one but came just days after Paramount agreed to pay the president’s foundation more than $15 million to settle a lawsuit against CBS stemming from a “60 Minutes” interview it ran with former Vice President Kamala Harris last fall.
Trump’s lawsuit came as Paramount was working to secure an $8 billion mega-merger with fellow entertainment giant Skydance, a deal Trump’s FCC approved late last week.
Colbert, before CBS announced it was canceling his show, accused Paramount of paying Trump a “big fat bribe” to get their deal with Skydance cleared.
On Monday, a press freedom group filed an ethics complaint against FCC chairman Brendan Carr over his comments on the CBS case while Democrats in Congress have promised to investigate the Paramount/Skydance merger, the settlement payment and Colbert’s cancellation.
The president, in his Truth Social post on Tuesday, suggested other Late Night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, who have been critical of him and Republicans could be “next up” on the chopping block.
“The only real question is, who will go first,” Trump, a former reality television star and longtime New York media figure wrote. “Show Biz and Television is a very simple business. If you get Ratings, you can say or do anything. If you don’t, you always become a victim. Colbert became a victim to himself, the other two will follow.”