PresidentDonald Trump, while still celebrating the demise of his late-night TV foe "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," is distancing himself as the reason for theshow's abrupt cancellation. "Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night. That is not true!" he wrote in a July 29Truth Social post. The reason he was fired was a pure lack of TALENT, and the fact that this deficiency was costing CBS $50 Million Dollars a year in losses — and it was only going to get WORSE!" Colbertannounced on July 17that "The Late Show" would be ending in May after more than 30 years, with CBS parent company Paramount Global calling it "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night." A week later, following speculation by critics andoutspoken celebritiesthat this wasa politically motivated move, Paramountobtained FCC approvalfor an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media. While"The Late Show" is the top ratedin the 11:30 p.m. slot, it was losing a reported $40 million a year. The day after Colbert's announcement, Trump celebrated the 30-year-old show's cancellation,writing, "I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings." 'Gutless':David Letterman unleashes on Paramount over 'Late Show' cancellation In his July 29 post, Trump once again put his other late-night adversaries, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, on notice. "Next up will be an even less talented Jimmy Kimmel, and then, a weak, and very insecure, Jimmy Fallon. The only real question is, who will go first?" the former "The Apprentice" star wrote. "Show biz and television is a very simple business. If you get ratings, you can say or do anything. If you don't, you always become a victim. Colbert became a victim to himself, the other two will follow." A week prior,he went after"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,"claimingwithout evidence that they would be "next to go." "It's really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!" he added. Fallon'scontract with NBCUniversalwill keep him at the network through 2028. Kimmelextended his contractin 2022 through his show's current 23rd season. Kimmel quicklyfired back on Instagramby posting a screenshot of the president's post alongside the caption, "I know you're busy Sharpie-ing the Epstein files, but this seems like a weird way to tell people to watch Matt Damon and Ken Jennings on an all-new Who Wants to Be a Millionaire tomorrow night at 8|7c on @ABC." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Trump denies responsibility in Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' firing
