Stephen Colbert tells Trump to 'go f**k yourself' after POTUS celebrates 'The Late Show' cancellation

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Stephen Colbert may be losing his 'The Late Show' pulpit, but he’s far from done.

After CBS pulled the plug on 'The Late Show' “for financial reasons,” anyone thinking Colbert would exit stage left quietly got a reality check Monday night, July 21. The veteran host returned with claws out and didn’t hold back on his true feelings about President Donald Trump.

Colbert addressed Trump’s gleeful gloating over his cancellation, especially after the latter had popped open the champagne on Truth Social.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings," the president quipped. "I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”

Colbert wasn't having it. “How dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go f**k yourself," he responded.

Stephen Colbert is proud to be 'the martyr'

Donald Trump’s post notably also roped in Jimmy Kimmel, but Stephen Colbert wasn’t about to share the spotlight on his final crusade.

“Absolutely not, Kimmel. I am the martyr,” Colbert declared. “There’s only room for one on this cross, and I gotta tell you, the view is fantastic from up here. I can see your house!”

Meanwhile, outside the Ed Sullivan Theater, Colbert’s fans weren’t taking the cancellation lying down either. Some protesters reportedly gathered, chanting, “Colbert Stays! Trump Must Go!”

Colbert got real with viewers about the show’s sudden cancellation. “Folks, I’m gonna go ahead and say it: Cancel culture has gone too far,” he quipped at the start of the show. “Over the weekend, it sunk in that they’re killing off our show. But they made one mistake: They left me alive,” he said.

“And now,” Colbert said, “for the next 10 months, the gloves are off. I can finally speak unvarnished truth to power and say what I really think about Donald Trump, starting right now," before offering a rather tame critique of Trump: “I don’t care for him. Doesn’t have the skillset to be president. Not a good fit, that’s all.”

Stephen Colbert references CBS's $16 million payout to Donald Trump

Despite the cancellation, Stephen Colbert tried his best to be gracious toward his soon-to-be-ex network, praising CBS for having “always been great partners.” But he couldn’t help questioning their “financial reasons” excuse. “How could it purely be a financial decision if 'The Late Show' is No. 1 in ratings?” he asked.

He also raised eyebrows at a suspicious leak that came right after CBS dropped its official statement.

“Somebody at CBS” followed up their “gracious press release” with what Colbert called a “gracious anonymous leak” to the New York Post, which claimed the show was bleeding between $40 million and $50 million annually.

Colbert remarked, “I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million, oh, yeah.”

That was aimed squarely at the bombshell news earlier this month that CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, reportedly shelled out $16 million to settle a lawsuit Donald Trump brought over a deceptively edited '60 Minutes' interview with Kamala Harris.

Stephen Colbert faces backlash on social media

Of course, Stephen Colbert’s monologue stirred up the hornet’s nest of MAGA social media. His “Go f**k yourself” to Donald Trump didn’t exactly win him new fans on the right.

"HAHA! Someone should tell Colbert to cry harder! Trump beat him like he did that witch Kamala," one posted on X.

"Lmfao goodbye loser!!! Nobody watched your show it was complete garbage. Next one to go is Jimmy Kimball! F**k that guy!!" another wrote.

"So much talk for a little man whose show is about to get cancelled," someone else snarked.

"He’s the one getting cancelled not Trump. What a clown," read a comment.

"Good riddance, he never really was that funny," another offered.

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