Cancelled TV host Stephen Colbert tells Donald Trump to ‘go f*** yourself'
Colbert, who addressed the cancellation of his show by a broadcaster that has been widely accused of seeking to curry favour with Mr Trump for business reasons, came out swinging — telling Trump to 'go f*** yourself.'
The Late Show, a storied US TV franchise dating back to 1993 when it was hosted by David Letterman, will go off the air in May 2026 following a surprise announcement by broadcaster CBS last week.
The channel is part of Paramount, which is in the throes of an $US8 billion ($A12.3 billion) takeover that requires approval by the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission. It pulled the plug three days after Colbert skewered CBS for settling a lawsuit with Mr Trump.
He accused it of paying what he termed a 'a big fat bribe' of $US16 million ($A24.6 million) to the president for what he called 'deceptive' editing of an interview with his 2024 election opponent, former vice president Kamala Harris.
Mr Trump revelled in the firing of one of his most prolific detractors, posting on his Truth Social platform that 'I absolutely love that Colbert was fired.'
Colbert joked Monday that it had always been his dream starting out as an improv comic in Chicago in the 1980s to have a sitting president celebrate the end of his career.
He also disputed the logic of CBS, which insisted the cancellation was 'purely a financial decision.'
He said that in an anonymous leak over the weekend, CBS had appeared to suggest his show lost $US40 million ($A61.4 million) last year.
Colbert joked that he could account for losing $US24 million annually – but wasn't to blame for the other $US16 million, a reference to CBS News's settlement with Mr Trump.
Monday's cold open was an unsparing riff on Mr Trump demanding that the Washington Commanders change its name back to its former name, which was widely considered a slur against Native Americans.
The segment suggested Mr Trump sought to rename the franchise the 'Washington Epsteins', in reference to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein whom it has been widely reported was close to Mr Trump.
Colbert returned to this topic after addressing his show's cancellation, proclaiming that they had killed his show but not him, and doing a deep dive on reporting about just how close Mr Trump and Epstein were.
It was a formula that would have been familiar to fans of the show: the deadly serious leavened with humour and quick wit.
Outside the taping at Midtown Manhattan's Ed Sullivan theatre, protesters held placards that said 'Colbert Stays! Trump Must Go!'
Audience member Elizabeth Kott, a 48-year-old high school teacher, called Colbert's firing 'terrible.'
'It's really awful that it's come to that in this country, where companies feel the need to obey in advance. It's really awful,' she told AFP.
'A plague on CBS'
Colbert's lead guest Monday, acclaimed actress Sandra Oh, did not hold back, proclaiming a 'plague on CBS and Paramount' – the network on which Colbert's channel is broadcast and its media giant proprietor.
Colbert's lip trembled as Oh paid tribute to his work speaking truth to power while staying funny.
His other guest, actor Dave Franco, said he had loved Colbert's work in everything from The Daily Show to The Colbert Report and then The Late Show.
It was on The Daily Show, under the supervision of comic 'anchor' Jon Stewart, that Colbert perfected his alter-ego – a blowhard conservative reporter whose studied ignorance parodied actual right-wing broadcasters night after night.
He moved up to a show of his own on the same network, Comedy Central, which was then part of Viacom and today is part of Paramount.
Before long he took one of the most coveted chairs in US television – host of the CBS late-night slot.
Colbert dropped his arrogant conservative persona and cultivated a reputation as one of the most trusted yet funniest figures on US television.
Through the coronavirus pandemic he became a reassuring presence for millions, broadcasting from a spare room in his house and narrating the challenges he faced alongside his wife Evelyn.
He also became an arch-critic of Mr Trump, skewering the president for everything from his policies to his fondness for Hannibal Lecter.
Skipping a promised question and answer session following the taping of Monday's show, Colbert told his studio audience that 'I was nervous coming out here.'
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Sam Hawley: For so long, the tech bros of Silicon Valley have dominated the AI race. Now there's a boom underway in China, giving them a run for their money and Donald Trump doesn't like it. Today, Kyle Chan from the global policy think tank, the Rand Corporation, on why the president is so desperate for the US to beat Beijing. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Sam Hawley: Kyle, there's a global race going on right now to be the world leader in AI. This is a race basically to make technologies that rival the human brain, right? Kyle Chan: Yeah. So there really is this global race. And in particular, you have the US and China with many of the world's best AI models. And it's quite impressive to see almost every day, it feels like a new model coming out with new advanced capabilities. So, yes,getting close, if not even beating what we can do ourselves. Sam Hawley: Yeah, it's fascinating to watch how quickly this is moving. Donald Trump, US President: I don't like the name artificial anything because it's not artificial. It's genius. It's pure genius. Sam Hawley: Donald Trump, of course, wants to make sure that America wins this race. Donald Trump, US President: America is the country that started the AI race. And as president of the United States, I'm here today to declare that America is going to win it. We're going to work hard. We're going to win it. Sam Hawley: He even gave a speech with that title, winning the AI race. Donald Trump, US President: Because we will not allow any foreign nation to beat us. Our children will not live on a planet controlled by the algorithms of the adversaries advancing values and interests contrary to our own. Sam Hawley: He's pretty invested in this, isn't he? Kyle Chan: That's right. Yeah, this has been a big topic throughout his administration so far. I think a lot of what US policy is focused on, including the current Trump administration, is on winning the race to AGI. I think there's a strong sense that this could be a pivotal turning point. Sam Hawley: Remind me, what is AGI? Kyle Chan: So artificial general intelligence. There's this idea that perhaps one day it could reach a point where it could replicate or even exceed the abilities of humans to do, say, certain kinds of office work or certain kinds of research. This could even extend into areas like military capabilities, like autonomous weapon systems, for example. Reaching this stage where AI is as good as, if not better than, human reasoning. Sam Hawley: So we might not be needed actually anymore. We won't need to think anymore, right? Kyle Chan: We'll see. Sam Hawley: Exactly. All right. Well, Kyle, of course, up until now, the US has really dominated this market. All the big tech giants who've developed AI, things like ChatGPT, they're sitting there in Silicon Valley. Kyle Chan: Oh, yeah. So you have OpenAI, currently led by Sam Altman. You have Google, which has been coming out with a number of various sort of cutting edge models with its Gemini series. You have Claude, which is very well known from Anthropic, well known for its coding capabilities. You have Meta as well as xAI. So there's actually quite a quite a large roster of strong American AI companies. Sam Hawley: So for many, many years, America's really led the world when it comes to AI development. But as you say, China has been creeping up on it. And that has the US administration a bit worried. It even tried to stop Beijing's advancement in this space, didn't it? By banning Nvidia from selling advanced chips to China. Just remind me what happened then. Kyle Chan: Yes, that's right. So this was actually in the Biden administration. You had very strong export controls placed on especially Nvidia's more advanced chips. And so here you actually have several rounds of downgrading of what kinds of Nvidia chips could be exported in China. Sam Hawley: So the US, in part, was saying that it was deeply concerned that AI could be used by the Chinese for military purposes. Kyle Chan: That's right. Yeah. And, you know, to be sure, it was also part of this broader idea that advanced semiconductors in general can be used for a whole range of important applications. So in addition to AI, there are also more direct military implications for this ban. Sam Hawley: All right. So Biden brought in this ban to stop these really advanced chips from being exported from the United States to China. But intriguingly, Trump just recently has now removed that ban. Do we know why he did that and how significant is that decision? Kyle Chan: Yes. What's interesting is I think whereas before people expected maybe a continuous ratcheting up of these export controls, Trump has reversed the ban on the H20 chips. Interestingly, a new line of argument has gotten a lot of prominence, which is that Nvidia and other US tech companies who sort of, you know, quote, unquote, sell the picks and shovels, that is, build the infrastructure and build the sort of underlying platforms for AI development, that American companies should be the ones who are dominant in the world and that people should build on the American tech stack as it were, rather than cede, say, the Chinese market to its competitors like Huawei, which is also developing its own AI chips. So the idea here was that rather than block out the Chinese market entirely, that the US should stay engaged, at least in terms of providing some kind of sweet spot of infrastructure, but not not too advanced in order to actually accelerate China's efforts. Sam Hawley: And that's the argument that the Nvidia boss, Jensen Huang, has been making to Donald Trump. Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO: This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for America to have AI technology leadership. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for China to have AI leadership. And if we want to be a leader, we have to engage developers all over the world. We have to engage markets all over the world. Sam Hawley: So the best way to beat China at AI is to actually help China to compete. Have I got that right? Kyle Chan: Yes. Yes. The logic, it can be hard to parse out sometimes, but yes, this is one of the main arguments. Sam Hawley: All right. So, Kyle, Donald Trump, he's delivered this speech outlining the importance of the US dominating the AI market. Donald Trump, US President: America needs new data centres, new semiconductor and chip manufacturing facilities, new power plants and transmission lines. And under my leadership, we're going to get that job done. Sam Hawley: But as we mentioned, in China, it's full speed ahead. 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