President Donald Trump isn’t mourning the end of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
A day after the final episode of the late night talk show aired, Trump, 79, responded to its end by sharing an AI-generated video of himself and Colbert, 62, via X.
In the video shared on Friday, May 22, an AI version of Trump approached an AI version of Colbert on The Late Show and grabbed him by the shoulders. Trump then picked up Colbert and threw him in an on-stage dumpster. Trump closed the dumpster’s lid with Colbert inside, then smirked and began dancing.
The AI footage was also posted via the official White House account on X, with the accompanying caption reading, “Bye-bye 👋.”
Trump also took to social media platform, Truth Social, on Friday to comment on The Late Show’s demise.
“Stephen Colbert’s firing from CBS was the ‘Beginning of the End’ for untalented, nasty, highly overpaid, not funny, and very poorly rated Late Night Television Hosts,” Trump wrote. “Others, of even less talent, to soon follow. May they all Rest in Peace!”
Colbert’s final episode aired on Thursday, May 21, almost a year after CBS announced in July 2025 that the show was being axed.
The move caused instant backlash from viewers at the time due to its popularity and the perception that the decision may have been due to Colbert’s political comments.
Stephen Colbert. (Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
Network executives then released a statement defending their call to pull the plug on the show. The statement insisted the decision was not “related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount” and claimed it was due to financial reasons.
Critics raised eyebrows over the timing of the show’s cancellation, which came after an episode in which Colbert spoke out about Paramount, CBS’ parent company, settling what he called “a nuisance lawsuit” brought by Trump. In his lawsuit, the president alleged that 60 Minutes had unfairly edited an interview of Kamala Harris.
“I do not dispute their rationale [that it was for financial reasons],” Colbert told The New York Times in April when asked about viewers who are questioning the reason for his late night talk show coming to an end. “I do make jokes about it.”
He added, “But I also completely understand why people would say (A) that doesn’t make sense to me and (B) that seems fishy to me,” he noted. “Because the network did it to themselves by bending the knee to the Trump administration over a $20 billion, settled for $16 million, completely frivolous lawsuit.”
