Days after gloating over The Late Show’s cancellation, President Donald Trump claims to know which other late-night programs are next on the chopping block.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, the 79-year-old Republican politician alleged that Jimmy Kimmel Live host Jimmy Kimmel and The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon will both be relieved of their hosting gigs in the near future.
“The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” Trump wrote. “These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT television.”
Donald Trump/Truth Social
Donald Trump’s Truth Social post about Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon
He continued, “It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”
It is unclear if the former Trump Steaks founder is suggesting that Kimmel and Fallon will be replaced as hosts of their respective programs or if, like The Late Show, their decades-long franchises will be shuttered entirely.
Representatives for Jimmy Kimmel Live, as well as personal reps for Fallon and Kimmel, did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly’s request for comment on Trump’s claims. Last year, Fallon renewed his contract with NBC to host The Tonight Show until 2028.
Kimmel, who has been engaged in a years-long feud with Trump, didn’t appear fazed by the president’s claim. “I’m hearing you’re next,” he wrote on his Instagram Story. “Or maybe it’s just another wonderful secret.”
The host’s quip was referencing a note that Trump allegedly sent late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in honor of his 50th birthday, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The purported letter, which featured the outline of a naked woman, included the line: “Happy birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump denied writing the note in an interview with the outlet, claiming that he “never wrote a picture in my life” and “I don’t draw pictures of women.” He added, “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.” He has since filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Trump’s remark comes just days after he first floated the idea of Kimmel’s firing — and voiced his disdain for Fallon — while celebrating Colbert’s show officially coming to an end next May.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” he wrote. “His talent was even less than his ratings. 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.”
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Colbert also reacted to Trump alleging Kimmel would be the next to get the axe in his Late Show monologue on Monday.
“Nope! No, no. Absolutely not, Kimmel,” Colbert teased. “I am the martyr, okay? There’s only room for one on this cross and I’ve gotta tell you, the view is fantastic from up here. I can see your house!”
Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty
Jimmy Kimmel hosts ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’
Fallon and Kimmel both shown their support for Colbert following the CBS series’ cancellation. The Tonight Show host appeared in a Late Show spoof — alongside Seth Meyers, Anderson Cooper, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, and more — poking fun at the circumstances surrounding the franchise’s sudden ending and the viral Coldplay kiss cam couple on Monday.
Kimmel, meanwhile, was much more direct with his criticism of CBS.
“Love you Stephen,” he wrote on his Instagram Story, before directing his attention to the network. “F— you and all your Sheldons CBS.”
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