US President Donald Trump has shared a bizarre AI-generated video on social media depicting him throwing late-night television host Stephen Colbert into a bin. The video, posted on Trump's account and also shared by the official White House account with the caption "bye-bye," marks the end of Colbert's 'The Late Show' after CBS announced its cancellation last summer due to economic reasons following 11 seasons.
Trump's Reaction to Colbert's Final Episode
Reacting to the final episode aired on CBS, Trump called Colbert a "total jerk" with "no talent, no ratings, no life." In a post on Truth Social, he wrote: "Colbert is finally finished at CBS. Amazing that he lasted so long. No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person. You could take any person off the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he's finally gone!"
Ratings and Controversy
Despite Trump's criticism, Colbert was the ratings leader in late-night television. Many, including Colbert himself, have expressed skepticism that Trump's repeated attacks did not influence the show's cancellation. Trump has made his irritation with late-night hosts clear, rejoicing over the cancellation and suggesting that Jimmy Kimmel's show might be next. Indeed, ABC, under pressure from Trump's FCC chair and affiliate networks, temporarily suspended Kimmel following his remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Colbert and Kimmel's Joint Appearance
In October last year, Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel appeared on each other's shows, with Kimmel describing it as a "fun way to drive the president nuts." During his opening monologue, Kimmel said: "My fellow late-night host, Stephen Colbert, is here with us. It's the show the FCC doesn't want you to see. Tonight, Stephen is a guest on our show. I will simultaneously be a guest on his show. We thought it might be a fun way to drive the president nuts."
History of Colbert's Trump Mockery
Since his first appearance on The Late Show in 2015, Colbert frequently mocked Trump. In one instance, he gorged on Oreos while likening Trump's inability to resist the cookies to his inability to resist attacking the then-presidential candidate. Over 11 years, Colbert's show became a platform for criticizing MAGA policies, leading Trump to call him a "dead man walking."
Legacy of the Show
Heather Hendershot, a professor of communication studies and journalism at Northwestern University, commented: "The legacy of this show needs to be that we remember it as the show that was cancelled because a presidential administration wanted it off the air. We haven't connected every single dot on that, but it's very clear that this was a political decision. And I think 20, 30, 40 years later, that is going to be strongly remembered about this show, that this was a moment of authoritarian triumph."
