Daily Show alum Roy Wood Jr. predicts Stephen Colbert will ultimately create “bigger issue” for Donald Trump when he leaves CBS in 2026.
Speaking to Deadline from the Edinburgh TV Festival, the former Daily Show correspondent-turned-host of CNN’s Have I Got News for You said that once Colbert is “running rampant on YouTube like Don Lemon,” the White House will have a more powerful enemy on its hands.
“That will create a bigger issue for this administration in 2026 if he builds an audience,” he said, predicting a “very different landscape” in that case. If the Trump administration were “smart,” he added, “they would leave us alone and let us tell our jokes.”
Colbert’s Late Show was axed as CBS parent company Paramount was on the cusp of its $8 merger with Skydance, which needed approval from Trump’s FCC. While the company insisted that The Late Show cancellation was a “purely financial decision,” many saw the move as yet another way to cozy up to Trump, who the company also handed over $16 million to settle his questionable lawsuit over 60 Minutes’ “selective editing” of his election opponent.
Colbert had just called the settlement a “big, fat bribe” on air days before the news was announced. Reports emerged that The Late Show was losing $40 million a year, essentially justifying Paramount’s statement, but Colbert’s competitor and friend Jimmy Kimmel said this week that there’s “not a snowball’s chance in hell” that number was accurate.
Wood Jr. considered it obvious that Trump was part of Paramount’s motivation to his fellow Daily Show alum’s show, as he argued the move will only make Colbert’s platform more widespread.
After Wood’s current employer CNN fired longtime anchor Don Lemon, his online presence grew on YouTube and social media, which he’s used to go after Trump with increased intensity. He also uses his platform to criticize his former network. Wood Jr. sees a similar trajectory for Colbert on a wider scale. “God bless whatever Stephen Colbert does next year with no network person to give him notes,” he said.
For more, listen to Roy Wood Jr. on The Last Laugh podcast.
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