UMVA has learned that President Donald Trump took to social media on Friday to celebrate the end of Stephen Colbert's late-night show, a move that has been met with mixed reactions from fans and critics alike.
After 11 years on the air, Colbert hosted his final episode of The Late Show on Thursday evening, titled "Hello, Goodbye." Trump's response was swift and scathing, as he hailed the end of the franchise on his social media platform.
"Colbert is finally finished at CBS," Trump wrote. "Amazing that he lasted so long! No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person. You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he's finally gone!"
In a follow-up post, Trump seemed to take aim at other late-night hosts, issuing a veiled threat. "Stephen Colbert's firing from CBS was the 'Beginning of the End' for untalented, nasty, highly overpaid, not funny, and very poorly rated Late Night Television Hosts. Others, of even less talent, to soon follow. May they all Rest in Peace!"
This isn't the first time Trump has publicly trashed Colbert. Last July, when CBS announced it would be reevaluating the show's future, Trump gloated, saying he "absolutely love[d] that Colbert got fired." He claimed Colbert's talent was even less than his ratings.
Colbert took over The Late Show in 2015, succeeding David Letterman. As the news of the show's end broke, Letterman expressed his sadness, describing it as a loss for American culture. "Kind of makes me sad," he said. "We always relied on — you would read the newspaper in the morning, and at night you would see Johnny Carson. And Johnny would give you a perspective whether you agreed with it or not, but it was always funny."
Letterman added that late-night television provides a valuable perspective, one that he believes is essential to American culture. The end of The Late Show has left many fans and critics wondering what's next for late-night television.
