U.S. President Donald Trump claims he had nothing to do with the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said “everybody” thinks he was “solely responsible” for the end of the late-night talk show but he said the rumours are “not true!”
“Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, ‘Late Night,’” Trump wrote. “That is not true! 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 went on to claim that “an even less talented Jimmy Kimmel” will be “next up” to lose his job, followed by “a weak, and very insecure, Jimmy Fallon.”
“The only real question is, who will go first? 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,” Trump wrote. “Colbert became a victim to himself, the other two will follow.”
Kimmel responded to Trump’s latest post by sharing a screenshot of it on Instagram and writing, “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.”
Last week, Kimmel fired back at Trump after the president declared Kimmel the “next to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes,” following the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
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On July 22, Trump took to Truth Social to criticize Kimmel, claiming he has “absolutely NO TALENT” and warning that his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, is next on the chopping block.
“The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes, and shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” Trump wrote of Kimmel and his fellow late-night host, Fallon.
“These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”
Kimmel responded by sharing a screenshot of Trump’s post on Instagram with the caption: “I’m hearing you’re next. Or maybe it’s just another wonderful secret” — a reference to a Wall Street Journal report, published July 17, that claimed Trump had written the phrase to Jeffrey Epstein in a letter for his 50th birthday in 2003.
Fallon also responded to Trump’s post last week during the July 21 episode of The Tonight Show.
“I am your host,” Fallon told his audience. “Well, at least for tonight.”
“I don’t like it. I don’t like what’s going on one bit. These are crazy times.”
Colbert hasn’t responded to Trump’s latest claim that he wasn’t “solely responsible” for the end of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert but he did share some choice words for Trump during an opening monologue on the show last week.
The late-night host read Trump’s post celebrating the decision to cancel the show on Truth Social on July 18, in which he wrote, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
Colbert said into the “Eloquence Cam”: “How dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go f— yourself.”
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