Stephen Colbert hasn’t exactly been shy about heckling President Trump, but “The Late Show” host says he plans to ramp up the invective now that CBS has scheduled his show for the scrap heap.
His Monday night monologue was devoted almost exclusively to blasts at Mr. Trump and comments about the show’s cancellation, which takes effect in May.
“Over the weekend, it sunk in that they’re killing off our show,” Mr. Colbert said. “But they made one mistake: They left me alive. And now for the next 10 months, the gloves are off. I can finally speak unvarnished truth to power and say what I really think about Donald Trump.”
The host read a Truth Social post by Mr. Trump that said, “I absolutely love it that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
Mr. Colbert then responded: “How dare you, sir. Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism: Go f—- yourself.”
Several of his late-night brethren, including Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and John Oliver, were in the audience for the first show since Mr. Colbert announced Friday that the franchise would be retired.
The network said that the show has been canceled for financial reasons, but Democrats have accused the company of seeking to curry favor with the Trump administration as Paramount, which owns CBS, seeks to complete a merger with Skydance Media.
The merger must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission.
Paramount also agreed earlier this month to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump over alleged deceptive editing of a pre-election “60 Minutes” interview with 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Mr. Trump said Tuesday that he had received the $16 million payout, which is designated for his presidential library, and added that more could be coming.
“Paramount/CBS/60 Minutes have today paid $16 Million Dollars in settlement, and we also anticipate receiving $20 Million Dollars more from the new Owners, in Advertising, PSAs, or similar Programming, for a total of over $36 Million Dollars,” he said on Truth Social. “This is another in a long line of victories over the Fake News Media, who we are holding to account for their widespread fraud and deceit.”
“The Late Show” reportedly cost $100 million annually to produce and was losing $40 million per year, which Mr. Colbert spoke of in his monologue.
“Somebody at CBS followed up their gracious press release with a gracious anonymous leak saying they pulled the plug on our show because of losses pegged between $40 million and $50 million a year,” Mr. Colbert said. “$40 million is a big number. I can see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million? Oh, yeah.”
At the same time, he insisted there were no hard feelings.
“With those numbers, I’ve got to say it makes sense we’ve been canceled. I get it, guys,” Mr. Colbert said. “And thanks again, thanks again to the network.”
Mr. Stewart kept up anti-Trump profanity Monday on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” by dancing and shouting “go f—- yourself” as a gospel choir sang in the background.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.