Trump attacks Colbert and demands CBS cancel his show now: ‘Put him to sleep’

On Tuesday night, after CBS aired the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony — hosted by President Donald Trump — Trump wasn’t focused on his historic turn as emcee of the event, which took place earlier this month at what he and his allies have renamed the Trump Kennedy Center (a move experts say is illegal).

Instead, Trump was furious with Stephen Colbert, the CBS late-night show host who, in the latest season of the network’s “The Late Show,” continues to relentlessly ridicule the president. Trump urged CBS to pull the plug on Colbert’s show “NOW” rather than end the series next May.

“Stephen Colbert is a pathetic train wreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for success in show business,” Trump wrote at 12:16 p.m. ET on his Truth Social platform. “Now, after being terminated by CBS but left out, he has gotten even worse, along with his non-existent ratings. Stephen runs on hate and fumes ~ A dead man walking! CBS should ‘put him to sleep’, NOW it’s the humanitarian thing to do!”

Seven minutes later, Trump followed this up: “Who has the worst Late Night host, CBS, ABC or NBC??? They all have three things in common: high salaries, no talent, REALLY LOW RATINGS!”

Trump also reiterated his call for the US government to revoke the licenses of TV broadcasters. “If Network NEWSCASTS and their Late Night Shows are almost 100% negative towards President Donald J. Trump, MAGA and the Republican Party, shouldn’t their very valuable broadcast licenses be terminated? I say YES!” Then, three minutes after that message, the president shared: “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!”

The episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” that CBS aired on December 23 was a repeat, with guests Sigourney Weaver and Mandy Patinkin. It originally aired on December 8 — and that evening, Colbert took several shots at Trump, including his takeover of the Kennedy Center and his attempt to take hosting duties at the Kennedy Center Honors.

“This year’s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony is the first since Trump installed himself as chairman of the Kennedy Center board,” Colbert said in his monologuewhich drew boos from the audience. In response, Colbert said, “Yes, I agree. It seems like the commander in chief shouldn’t have enough time to run a theater. ‘Mr. President, Mr. President, Russia just launched another round of missiles. But first the dress rehearsal for ‘Oklahoma’ is underway, and the blocking is uninspired.”

At another point, Colbert admitted, “I don’t know how much effort I put into the impression [of Trump] more. And I don’t care… Fire me!”

Colbert played some of Trump’s comments in which “he complained beforehand about how people will judge his host” of the Kennedy Center Honors, Colbert said. Trump had claimed that as host of the ceremony, “Jimmy Kimmel was terrible… If I can’t beat Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.” To which Colbert joked: “You can’t do that and you shouldn’t do that.”

Colbert then checked Trump’s facts and pointed out that the 79-year-old president appeared to have confused Kimmel and 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, drawing a huge laugh from the audience. “But the point is, I did that, in the three years leading up to Trump’s presidency.”

In the monologue, Colbert also joked about Trump receiving the “fake” inaugural FIFA Peace Prize “after years of unsuccessfully campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize.”

The CBS host said Trump’s FIFA peace prize “is like Christmas, when you ask your mom for a Super Nintendo and she gives you something called ‘Super Retendo.’ It comes with ‘Super Marion Brothers’ and ‘Legend of Kelvin.'” Colbert said FIFA President Gianni Infantino “pulled out all the stops for Trump’s Big Boy Trophy Party,” adding that in a photo of Trump receiving the medal Infantino awarded him, the president “looks like a goblin asking if it’s okay to eat a third baby.”

“Later that same day, Trump also received the Hooters National Book Award,” Colbert said. “It was the brisket of all time, it was the worst brisket.”

After CBS announced this summer that “The Late Show” would end in May 2026, Trump gloated that “I think it’s absolutely wonderful that Colbert was fired.” A few days later during the show, Colbert fired back, telling the president, “Go fuck yourself” (with the f-word censored).

In announcing the cancellation of “The Late Show,” CBS emphasized that the move was “purely a financial decision” that came after a years-long decline in the late-night TV economy.

In its Dec. 23 broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors, CBS mostly refrained from calling the place the “Trump Kennedy Center,” since the ceremony was recorded before Trump’s name was bolted onto the building last week. (A voiceover introducing the special said, “And now the Trump Kennedy Center Honors on CBS,” and an on-screen image said, “The following is a Donald J. Trump and Kennedy Center production.”) In addition, CBS News’ Standards department last week instructed employees to continue referring to the Kennedy Center’s original name, the Washington Post, in their reporting. reported. “If the president or other government officials use the new name in a sound bite, that is their prerogative,” the news organization said.