When it was announced in July that “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” would be ending in 2026, we were shocked. Alongside NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” CBS’s program has been a staple of late night since 1993. It stirred up a lot of discourse online about the fate of late night in general, the political implications given the Paramount Skydance merger, as well as a lawsuit with President Donald Trump. There’s a lot going on there. Now that Colbert is on his way out, Trump is setting his sights on another late night host, Seth Meyers.
On Wednesday, Trump took to his Truth social platform to state the following, “Thereisa sick rumor going around that Fake News NBC extended the contract of one of the least talented Late Night television hosts out there, Seth Meyers. He has no Ratings, Talent, or Intelligence, and the Personality of an insecure child. So, why would Fake News NBC extend this dope’scontract.I don’t know but I’ll definitely be finding out!!!”
But let’s not pretend for even a moment that it’s normal or good behavior for a sitting POTUS to be threatening to review a contract extension for a television host. Oddly enough, that contract was actually extended last year, but Trump is acting like it’s something that just happened today. Beyond that, this behavior is far from normal. Stephen Colbert absolutely teared into the administration of George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents dinner in 2006. It was an incredibly vicious teardown done right in front of Bush himself. There was no call for an investigation, there was no insulting of Colbert’s intelligence by Bush. They surely weren’t thrilled, but that administration just let it go, and that was that.
Comedy is subjective; no two people are going to find comedy in all the same things. Personally, I find Seth Meyers funny, but I also think political humor rarely ages well, and is easy humor as opposed to bits that are more timeless and can be funny regardless of the political climate.
Meyers’ contract is up in 2028. So is Trump’s. We’ll let you know if anything comes of this thinly-veiled and poorly written threat. But seriously, how can you hate a guy who goes day drinking with his mom?
