U.S. President Donald Trump is doubling down on his claims that late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon are “next” to lose their shows following the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
During a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, Real America’s Voice reporter Brian Glenn asked Trump about reports that radio host Howard Stern may part ways with Sirius XM after his contract expires in the fall.
Glenn went on to ask if the “hate Trump” comedy was losing popularity with American audiences.
In his response, Trump used the example of the recent cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and added that he believes Kimmel and Fallon are next.
“Well, it hasn’t worked,” Trump replied. “And it hasn’t worked, really, for a long time, and I would say pretty much from the beginning. Colbert has no talent. I mean, I could take anybody here. I could go outside in the beautiful streets and pick a couple of people that do just as well or better. They’d get higher ratings than he did. He’s got no talent.”
“Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. They’re next. They’re going to be going. I hear they’re going to be going. I don’t know, but I would imagine because they’d get—you know, Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon.”
Trump made a similar statement on Truth Social after Colbert’s show was cancelled last month.
He criticized Kimmel and claimed he has “absolutely NO TALENT” while warning that his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, is next on the chopping block.
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“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 on Truth Social on July 22.
“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.
Trump went on to make another claim about the late-night hosts and the cancellation of Colbert’s show last week.
In a post on Truth Social on July 29, Trump said “everybody” thinks he was “solely responsible” for the end of the late-night talk show but that 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 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.”
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 month.
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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