"I Absolutely Love": Donald Trump Celebrates Stephen Colbert's Firing By CBS

A day after CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, US President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account to make his feelings clear. The Republican leader said he loved that Mr Colbert had been fired from the show, whilst calling out other late-night show hosts.

"I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings," wrote Mr Trump.

"I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show," he added, praising the Fox News Late Night host.

CBS said in a statement the cancellation of the show was purely a financial decision, taken in the backdrop of a challenging late-night programming landscape. The studio added that the decision was "not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount".

"Next year will be our last season," Mr Colbert announced during Thursday's episode. "The network will be ending the show in May."

He added that the cancellation was not just the end of his show but the end of the decades-old "Late Show" franchise.

"I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away," Mr Colbert said.

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Mr Colbert, one of Trump's fiercest critics, took over from David Letterman in 2015, as the show became a major platform for Democratic politicians. Fans of the show have claimed that the cancellation might be connected to Paramount's settlement with Trump this month in a lawsuit the entertainment giant had described as meritless.

The US president sued Paramount for $20 billion last year, alleging that CBS News' "60 Minutes" news programme edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favour.

Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" and one of Colbert's rivals, posted on Instagram that "I'm just as shocked as everyone."

"I really thought I'd ride this out with him for years to come," wrote Fallon, whom Mr Trump had earlier referred to as "the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show".

Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, whose program airs on ABC, chimed in: "Love you Stephen."