President Trump took a swing Wednesday at hostile late-night television and talk radio hosts whose programs are on the line or are about to be cancelled.
When asked about ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert, whose CBS program “The Late Show” will end in May of next year, Mr. Trump said that the shows of Mr. Fallon and Mr. Kimmel would likely face the same fate soon.
“I would say pretty much from the beginning, Colbert has no talent. I mean, I could take anybody here, I could go outside in the beautiful streets and pick up couple of people that do just as well or better,” Mr. Trump said.
“They could get higher ratings than he did. He’s got no talent. Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent,” he continued.
Mr. Trump also bristled when he was asked about SiriusXM host Howard Stern, on whose show he was a frequent guest, until he first ran for the White House, and Mr. Stern turned against him.
“You know, Howard Stern is a name I haven’t heard. I used to do a show and I used to have fun, but I haven’t heard that name in a long time,” Mr. Trump said when told that Mr. Stern’s show faced an uncertain future.
“You know when he went down? When he endorsed Hillary Clinton [in 2016], he lost his audience,” he said. “People said, ‘Give me a break.’ He went down when he endorsed Hillary Clinton.”
According to recent reports, Mr. Stern, 71, and SiriusXM may be set to part ways, as his five-year, $500 million contract winds down.
The long-time radio host is said to be open to a short-term contract if the money is right, but he is seriously looking to leave SiriusXM, the Sun first reported.
“He may do a one- to two-year contract if they can meet him where he wants financially. He doesn’t want to pull the plug on his employees like this,” a source told the Daily Mail.
