On the eve of Christmas, President Donald Trump has unleashed a recent blast of vitriol at late-night comedy speak reveals, saying comic Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic train wreck” who must be “put to sleep.”
Colbert’s “The Late Show” is scheduled to finish in May 2026, a choice his followers say smacks of censorship.
In a late evening Truth Social put up, 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 evening speak present on U.S. tv. His opening monologues usually take purpose on the Republican president.
There was no instant public response from Colbert or CBS to Trump’s put up.
CBS introduced the sunsetting of Colbert’s present after yet one more season in July, the identical month its mum or dad firm reached a $16 million settlement with Trump. CBS known as the cancellation “a purely financial decision.”
Trump had sued Paramount, alleging that CBS News’ “60 Minutes” program deceptively edited an interview along with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.
In one other in a single day put up, Trump repeated threats to yank the printed licenses of networks whose content material he deemed overly essential.
“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” section on alleged torture at El Salvador’s CECOT jail — the place Trump despatched lots of of deported Venezuelans — saying it wanted extra reporting.
In August, Disney-owned ABC briefly suspended its late-night star, Jimmy Kimmel, earlier than bringing him again on a one-year contract.
Kimmel had irritated conservatives with feedback within the wake of the homicide of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump seems to be aiming to reshape the U.S. media panorama, which he says is biased in opposition to conservatives.
His appointee to go the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, turned heads when he instructed a Congressional listening to that “the FCC is not formally an independent agency,” implying that his actions may justifiably be aligned with the political priorities of the White House.
© 2025 AFP