After CBS aired the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony hosted by President Donald Trump on Tuesday night, Trump did not focus on his historic turn as host of the event, which took place earlier this month in the venue he and his allies renamed the Trump Kennedy Center (a move experts say is illegal).
Instead, President Trump is furious about CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert, who continued to relentlessly mock the president on the final season of “The Late Show.” President Trump called on CBS to cancel Colbert’s show “Right Now” instead of ending it next May.
At 12:16 a.m. ET, President Trump posted on his platform Truth Social, writing, “Stephen Colbert is a pathetic old man who doesn’t have any of the talent it takes to be successful in show business.” “Now that he’s been fired by CBS and left to dry, he’s gotten even worse with ratings that don’t really exist. Stephen is running on hate and anger and is like a walking dead man! CBS should ‘put him to sleep’ now. That’s the humane thing to do!”
Seven minutes later, President Trump continued: “Who is the worst late-night host on CBS, ABC, or NBC? They all have three things in common: high pay, no talent, and very low ratings!”
President Trump also renewed his call for the U.S. government to revoke the licenses of television broadcasting stations. “If a network’s newscast and its late-night programming are nearly 100% negative towards President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn’t we suspend its invaluable broadcast license? I say YES!” And three minutes after posting that, the president shared, “Merry Christmas!!!”
CBS’ December 23rd episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was a rerun and featured guests Sigourney Weaver and Mandy Patinkin. The show originally aired on Dec. 8, and Colbert made several attacks on Trump that night, including his takeover of the Kennedy Center and his move to seize the role of hosting Kennedy Center Honors.
“This year’s Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony is the first since President Trump became chairman of the Kennedy Center,” Colbert said in a monologue, to boos from the audience. To which Colbert responded, “Well, I agree to some extent. It seems like the commander in chief shouldn’t have enough time to run theater. ‘Mr. President, Mr. President, the Russians just launched another missile. But first of all, the ‘Oklahoma’ dry run is underway, and it would be foolhardy to stop it.”
At another point, Colbert admitted, “I don’t know anymore how much effort I put into impressing[Trump]. And I don’t care… Fire me!”
Mr. Colbert said Mr. Colbert played part of Mr. Trump’s remarks at the Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony in which he had “complained in advance about how people perceived his hosting.” As host of the ceremony, Trump claimed, “Jimmy Kimmel was terrible…If you can’t beat Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, I don’t think you should be president.” In response, Colbert quipped, “You can’t do that, and you shouldn’t do that.”
Colbert then fact-checked Trump, noting that the 79-year-old president seemed to be confusing Kimmel with Colbert.
“Just a quick brain check for Grandpa Puddin’ Skull. I called (Kimmel) and Jimmy Kimmel has never hosted the Kennedy Center Honors,” Colbert said, eliciting loud laughter from the audience. “But the problem is, I was doing that for three years before Trump became president.”
In his monologue, Colbert mocked President Trump for winning the “fake” first FIFA Peace Prize after “years of unsuccessfully campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize.”
The CBS host said President Trump’s FIFA Peace Prize was “like Christmas when you ask your mother for a Super Nintendo and she gives you something called ‘Super Retende.'” Colbert said FIFA President Gianni Infantino “went all in for President Trump’s Big Boy Trophy Party,” adding that in a photo of Trump holding a medal presented by Infantino, the president “looks like a little devil asking if it’s okay to eat a third baby.”
“Later that same day, Trump also won the Hooters National Book Award,” Colbert joked. “It was the best boobs and the worst boobs of the era.”
After CBS announced this summer that “The Late Show” would end in May 2026, President Trump smiled and said, “I’m really glad Colbert was fired.” On his show a few days later, Colbert shot back at the president, telling him to “fuck you” (the F-word was censored).
In announcing the cancellation of “The Late Show,” CBS claimed the move was “purely a financial decision” following years of economic downturn in late-night television.
CBS barely referred to the site as the “Trump Kennedy Center” during its Dec. 23 broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors, largely because the ceremony was taped before Trump’s name was screwed onto the building last week. (The special’s introductory narration said, “And now, on CBS, the Trump Kennedy Center will be honored,” and an on-screen graphic said, “Here’s the production of Donald J. Trump and the Kennedy Center.”) Separately, CBS News’ standards office last week told staff to continue mentioning the original Kennedy Center in its coverage, The Washington Post reported. “It is the prerogative of the president and other administration officials to use the new name in their criticism,” the news agency said.
