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Longtime journalist Bill Carter said President Donald Trump was “personally involved” in the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show based on Trump’s reaction to the series finale.
“It’s not a good development for the country, obviously,” Carter said on MS Now’s “The Weekend” on Saturday. “Certainly the idea that you throw a man in a barrel at the end of it shows that he was personally involved.”
Carter was referring to an AI-generated video posted on Trump’s official X account that showed Trump grabbing Colbert during his show and throwing him into a trash can, dancing to the Village People’s “YMCA” after the act.
COLBERT FILES ON CBS, SAYS CANCELLATION IS ‘DEFINITELY A STORY’ OF ‘BENDING THE KNEES’ FOR TRUMP
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” aired its series finale on May 21. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
Carter, who wrote the book “The Late Shift” based on former “Late Show” host David Letterman’s feud with “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, was among several commentators who believed Trump’s ongoing feud with Colbert was a factor in the show’s end.
“The government was trying to get rid of this man because he’s a critic. And, you know, that’s so different from our values that I think most Americans — even people who are neutral about it, maybe not his staunchest supporters — know that this is not what we do. We don’t do that. We don’t lock people up because they criticize us. And I think everybody who’s going through a bad situation was going through a bad situation. That’s going on,” Carter said.
TRUMP CELEBRATES STEPHEN COLBERT LEAVING NIGHT WITH EARLY MORNING TRUTH POST
President Donald Trump shared a video produced by his AI of throwing Stephen Colbert into a dumpster after Colbert’s last show. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images; Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He went on to accuse CBS of complying with the Trump administration, saying most people no longer believe the network’s decision to cancel the show was based on “financial motives.”
“I think that CBS, when it filed a lawsuit against Trump against ’60 Minutes,’ was sending a signal that they are not going to be the independent journalism outfit that they should be. And not just to stop Colbert, but to cancel time, they basically said, we’re not even the same business anymore. We’re going to make jokes about the president,” said Carter.
THE DEMOCRATS THANKED STEPHEN COLBERT ONE DAY AFTER HIS OVERNIGHT TIME.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
Journalist Bill Carter accused Trump of being involved in the cancellation of Colbert’s show. (Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images; Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” aired its final episode on May 21. CBS announced the show’s cancellation last summer citing financial problems, a claim Colbert has often denied. However, it was reported at the time that “The Late Show” was losing the network a $40 million per year.
Colbert often targeted Trump in the final years of his show. A study from the Media Research Center found that Colbert made 3,639 jokes about President Donald Trump from January 3, 2023, to the end of his show.
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Joseph Wulfsohn of Fox News contributed to this report.
