“Go f*ck yourself” - Stephen Colbert takes a jab at Trump’s comments on his show’s cancellation

Stephen Colbert opened his July 21 monologue with a blunt answer to Donald Trump’s gloating: “Go f*** yourself.” He said it because Trump had posted on Truth Social four days earlier,

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired… I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”

CBS had announced on July 17, 2025, that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026 and that the entire franchise is being retired, as the CBS network said

“purely a financial decision… not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

The timing landed in the middle of Paramount Global’s proposed $8.4 billion merger with Skydance and days after Stephen Colbert called Paramount’s $16 million settlement with Trump “a big fat bribe.”

Lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff, along with the Writers Guild, questioned whether politics factored in. CBS sources countered with audience fragmentation and a reported $40 million annual loss.

The F-bomb, the Truth Social post, and why Stephen Colbert went there

On July 21, 2025, THE LATE SHOW with STEPHEN COLBERT monologue youtube clip, Stephen Colbert told Trump straight into his “Eloquence Cam,”-

“Go f*** yourself”

Then added,

“Now for the next 10 months, the gloves are off.”

He framed those 10 months as freedom to “speak unvarnished truth to power,” using the cancellation as a narrative pivot.

Trump’s message was:

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired… I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”

Colbert read the post aloud, then explained why it mattered: Trump was celebrating a decision that CBS insists was financial, not editorial, a claim Colbert openly mocked. Colbert also told his audience earlier in his cancellation announcement,

“I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”

It underscored that CBS is shutting down the whole brand, not just swapping hosts.

Money vs. motive: CBS’s line and the $16 million settlement debate

As per a CBS News report dated July 17, 2025, executives called the move

“purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

Reuters reported the show was losing roughly $40 million a year and that ad revenue across late-night has cratered. But Stephen Colbert had just labelled Paramount’s payout to Trump “a big fat bribe”.

Senators Warren, Sanders, and Wyden pressed Skydance’s David Ellison about whether any undisclosed side deals existed as the merger awaits FCC approval. The Writers Guild publicly urged an investigation, arguing the explanation felt too thin for a No. 1 show.

As per Washington Post business report dated July 21, 2025, those senators also asked if Ellison influenced canceling Stephen Colbert, a prominent Trump critic, while merger talks were active.

What comes next for The Late Show and Stephen Colbert

CBS is retiring The Late Show entirely. There’s no planned successor in the slot. That leaves Stephen Colbert about 10 months to finish his run, time he’s already using to turn the spotlight back on CBS and Trump.

In the current episode Colbert staged a Coldplay “kiss-cam” spoof featuring Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, Adam Sandler, and Christopher McDonald. Lin-Manuel Miranda and “Weird Al” Yankovic joined for a song he jokingly “canceled” mid-performance, parroting CBS’s wording.

Jimmy Kimmel also weighed in. He posted on the Instagram story regarding Colbert's show cancellation,

“Love you Stephen. F*** you and all your Sheldons CBS.”

The solidarity suggests Stephen Colbert won’t be quiet in the months ahead, nor will the scrutiny over Paramount’s merger, its settlement with Trump, and the economics of late-night.

Stay tuned for more updates.