Donald Trump Tosses Stephen Colbert into a Dumpster in AI Video
President Donald Trump is not mourning the conclusion of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
A day after the show’s final episode aired, Trump, 79, commented on its end by sharing an AI-generated video featuring himself and Colbert, 62, on X.
In the video shared on Friday, May 22, an AI version of Trump approached an AI version of Colbert on The Late Show, grabbing him by the shoulders. Trump then hoisted Colbert and tossed him into an on-stage dumpster. After closing the lid on the dumpster with Colbert inside, Trump smirked and began to dance.
The AI clip was also shared via the official White House account on X, accompanied by the caption, “Bye-bye 👋.”
Trump also took to social media platform Truth Social on Friday to express his views on The Late Show’s cancellation.
“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, will soon follow. May they all Rest in Peace!”
Colbert’s final episode aired on Thursday, May 21, nearly a year after CBS announced in July 2025 that the show was being discontinued.
This decision sparked immediate backlash from viewers, largely due to the show’s popularity and the suspicion that the cancellation could be linked to Colbert’s political commentary.
Network executives subsequently released a statement defending their decision to cancel the show, asserting that it was not “related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount,” and claimed the cancellation was driven by financial considerations.
Critics were skeptical about the timing of the show’s cancellation, which followed an episode where Colbert commented on Paramount, CBS’ parent company, settling what he termed “a nuisance lawsuit” initiated by Trump. In that lawsuit, the president alleged that 60 Minutes unfairly edited an interview with 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 questioning the reason for his late-night show’s conclusion. “I do make jokes about it.”
He continued, “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.”
