Jimmy Kimmel has urged viewers not to watch CBS following the final episode of Stephen Colbert's Late Show, as the late-night host paid tribute to his colleague. Kimmel said his own programme would not air on Thursday out of respect for Colbert, whose last show was broadcast that night. "I hope the people who did the pushing feel ashamed of themselves," he said, adding that the era of fierce late-night competition had given way to a more supportive atmosphere. He told his audience: "Don't ever watch it again."
Turning to politics, Kimmel described Donald Trump's $10bn lawsuit against his own government and subsequent $1.76bn fund as "an astonishingly brazen act". He noted that leaked tax records showed the president had paid just $750 in 2016. Kimmel also commented on the Iran conflict, the House vote to curb Trump's war powers, and the defeat of Republican Thomas Massie in Kentucky, who had pushed for the release of the Trump-Epstein files. He joked that Massie now had "seven months left in office and nothing to lose".
Kimmel went on to discuss Trump's intervention in the Los Angeles mayoral race, his support for Spencer Pratt, and the launch of Trump coins. He questioned Trump's claim that the election was rigged and that Jesus would need to count votes, asking: "If Jesus came down, why would he come down to count votes?" He added that the economy was "so bad even he needs a part-time job".
In his penultimate monologue, Colbert mocked Trump's gold-plated phone, which had finally been released after a nine-month delay. "It's the only Trump item more disappointing after a nine-month wait was Eric," he said, noting that the devices were not made in the US but merely "designed with American values in mind". He also joked about Trump's strange speech to his wife and welcomed the TSA's decision to allow unlimited rotisserie chickens on planes, saying: "Thank God! I was getting tired of having to chug my chicken in line."
