Trump says Kimmel and Fallon ‘next to go’ days after Colbert’s show gets nixed

U.S. President Donald Trump took a jab at late-night talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, saying they are next in line to get canceled days after CBS (NASDAQ:PARA) (NASDAQ:PARAA) announced that it would completely retire The Late Show hosted by Stephen Colbert due to budget constraints.

“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 posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday.

“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!,” Trump said.

The post comes after Colbert received resounding support from Kimmel and Fallon, along with fellow talk show hosts Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and Jon Stewart, all of whom have used political satire to criticize Trump.

Three days after Colbert denounced CBS for settling with Trump for $16M over a “60 Minutes” interview with then Vice President Kamala Harris, calling it “a big fat bribe,” the network informed him that his show was getting canceled entirely.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings,” Trump had posted then.

Paramount, which owns CBS, has been on tenterhooks ever since the struggling media company announced its deal with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. It continues to await approval from the Federal Communications Commission for the merger that would create a $28B enterprise.

Ellison recently met with FCC Chair Brendan Carr to highlight the benefits of his company buying Paramount and said the transaction would make sure CBS network’s editorial decisions reflect “the varied ideological perspectives of American viewers” and “unbiased journalism.”

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