Is Late-Night TV Dead Forever? Paramount President Sounds Off On 'Woke' Programming After Colbert's Show Is Canceled — As Trump Predicts Kimmel and Fallon Are Next To Get Axed
The new Paramount president thinks the end may be near for late-night TV.
Aug. 14 2025, Published 3:30 p.m. ET
Now that Stephen Colbert and his late-night show have been given the boot, others appear to be next, at least that's what the new president of Paramount thinks, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Jeff Shell has a harsh opinion about the future of late-night programming, after President Trump made it clear he wants it dead and buried, and even predicted who will be next to be canned.
Late-Night TV's Future Is Bleak
The axing of Stephen Colbert's program has late-night TV's future looking bad.
"Late-night has a huge problem right now," Shell said on Wednesday, August 13, at a press conference with other top Paramount executives, according to reports.
While Shell was not a part of the decision to end Colbert's show, he made it clear he is fully on board. Despite Colbert having strong ratings, viewing habits are changing, according to Shell.
He said: "The problem is that 80 percent of the viewership and growing is on YouTube,” and explained YouTube pays "45 cents on the dollar," television companies cannot "make it work economically anymore."
Colbert, 61, announced CBS pulled the plug on The Late Show on July 17, claiming the popular comedian was informed the night prior that his current season would be his last.
Trump Gloats Over Firing
President Trump has not been afraid of expressing how happy he is over late-night TV's possible demise.
On his show, Colbert confirmed not only is the show ending, but there will be no more late-night talk shows on CBS, stating: "I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away."
Network executives called the move "purely a financial decision," as the program was reportedly losing $40million annually.
Following the axing, Trump went on Truth Social to gloat about one of his rivals crashing and burning.
"I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," the 79-year-old said on the conservative platform. "His talent was even less than his ratings," the Commander-in-Chief wrote.
'Kimmel Has No Talent!'
Trump recently said he thinks Jimmy Kimmel will soon get the boot.
However, the politician wasn't done there, as he made a bold prediction on who would be going down the drain next: "I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!"
Trump later called out another late-night personality, Jimmy Fallon, during a press conference.
He said at the time: "Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. They're next. They're going to be going. I hear they're going to be going. I don't know, but I would imagine because they'd get – you know, Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon."
The former reality star also claimed even a stranger would be a suitable replacement.
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Seth Meyers previously expressed fear over the future of his show.
"I mean, I could take anybody here. I could go outside in the beautiful streets and pick a couple of people who do just as well or better," he rambled. "They'd get higher ratings than he did. He’s got no talent."
Seth Meyers, whose late-night show airs after Fallon's, expressed concern even before Colbert was shown the exit door.
"There is this weird thing that I feel like I shifted from fearing that I wouldn't be good enough," Meyers said during an appearance. on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd.
He continued: "And now my fear is weirdly more outside of my control, which is … just at some point, the ecosystem might not support [late-night]."
