Donald Trump claims he could replace Stephen Colbert with ‘two people from the street'; blames Howard Stern's exit on Hillary Clinton's endorsement

Indian Express

7 hours ago

President of the United States, Donald Trump, during a recent press briefing on tariffs, took a detour to claim credit for some chaos in the entertainment world. He even falsely claimed Howard Stern was leaving SiriusXM, something neither Stern nor the network ever said. Trump bounced between bragging about Stephen Colbert's exit and doubling down on his prediction that Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel are next to be booted off the air.
The rumours started on right-wing media social media handles, which began pushing stories that Stern was leaving his radio gig. One of them, Brian Glenn from Real America's Voice, asked Trump about it as if it was a done deal. 'Howard Stern announced that he and SiriusXM Radio are parting ways. Do you think that the hate-Trump business model that has been in the business is going out of business because it's not popular with the American people?'
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To which Trump responded by attacking Colbert again, saying Colbert has no talent at all and could easily be replaced: 'Well, it hasn't worked, and it hasn't worked for a long time. Colbert has no talent. I mean, I could take anybody here, I could go outside on the beautiful streets and pick two people that would do just as well or better.' However, going further, he did admit that Colbert's ratings were still better than those of Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel: 'They're next. They're going to be going. I hear they are going to be going. I don't know, but I would imagine, because Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon,' he said.
Trump claimed Stern's career tanked the moment he backed Hillary Clinton, and that he 'lost his audience' because of it. He even asked the reporter, 'What happened? He got terminated?' The reporter said he heard that the network and Stern are parting ways because of salary issues. Interestingly, Stern showed up on his show this week, breaking from his summer break, and told listeners: 'We'll be back on the air live. I've been refuelling, so to speak.'
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Meanwhile, SiriusXM hasn't made a single comment about Stern leaving. There's no official announcement, no statement yet. Stern has been a major cash cow for SiriusXM since the 2016 election. In 2020, they even signed him to a new five-year contract. That deal is still active. SiriusXM's president, Scott Greenstein, said last year: 'Howard is a singular talent. No one pretended they could replace Johnny Carson, they just filled the slot. That's what Howard is to us. We hope he stays forever.'
Earlier, CBS announced that they are ending Stephen Colbert's Late Show, and the last segment is scheduled for May 2026. The network claimed the entire Late Show franchise will shut down with him. 'Stephen is irreplaceable… The show will go down as one of the greats in late-night TV.'
However, MAGA supporters are linking Colbert's exit to a segment he aired just three days before CBS announced the cancellation. In it, Colbert called out Paramount for a $16 million legal settlement they quietly made with Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris before the 2024 election. 'I believe this kind of financial settlement with a sitting government official has a name in legal circles: a big, fat bribe,' Colbert said during the episode. On the other hand, Trump gloated about Colbert's cancellation during a press conference, claiming he is the one behind it. Colbert didn't say anything directly after the news. But Fallon and Kimmel both jumped to his defence.