“Nobody saw that coming,” Colbert said about the viewership of the CBS broadcast. “I’m sorry, I read that wrong. Nobody saw that.”
“Now it is beneath me to gloat, but if it weren’t beneath me, I’d call him, ‘No talent, low-rated Donald Trump,’” Colbert added.
His joke was met with thunderous applause, cheers and “Stephen” chants from the crowd at the “Late Show,” which is set to end in May following CBS’ shock decision to cancel the frequent Trump critic’s program. The cancellation was widely seen as the network caving to political pressure, as parent company Paramount sought to complete a merger with Skydance Media, which required approval from the Trump administration. CBS has insisted that its move to end the “Late Show” was “purely a financial decision.”
Colbert also wondered aloud whether people should cut Trump some slack, considering it was his first time hosting the event.
“As a former Kennedy Center host myself, I know it can take a while to build an audience. What were my ratings my first year?” asked Colbert, who tossed to a graphic revealing that he drew 9.25 million viewers when he first emcee’d the ceremony in 2014.
Watch more of Colbert’s Tuesday monologue on “Late Show.”
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