Trump mocks Kimmel, Fallon, Colbert with cartoon of comedians begging for money as he ramps up late-night criticism

President Trump on Sunday shared a seemingly AI-generated image mocking late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert – showing them dressed as beggars on a New York City street.

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A cartoon image on Truth Social showed the trio frowning and wearing tattered clothes as they sit cross-legged on the sidewalk, holding signs that say “talentless, not funny, ex comedians, need money” next to buckets and overturned hats for cash.

“Late night is over” is painted on a wall behind the three late-night comedians.

The president posted the image after lodging fresh attacks against ABC’s Kimmel, NBC’s Fallon and CBS’ Colbert – whose last show with the network aired in May – during the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday.

“The association decided not to have a comedian, so they considered using Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon – these guys, they’re terrible, they’re terrible – Stephen Colbert,” Trump said at the event in Washington, DC. “These people are without talent.”

Trump has traded barbs with the three major networks’ late-night hosts over the past ten years, with the president repeatedly calling the comedians “talentless” and calling for them to be fired.

He initially called on ABC to fire Kimmel last September following the shocking assassination of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk, when Kimmel said “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”

ABC temporarily yanked Kimmel off the air. When he returned, he said he did not intend for the comments to come across as an attack on Kirk, but did not apologize for his remarks.

In April, First Lady Melania Trump called for Kimmel to be fired after he joked that she had “a glow like an expectant widow” ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April, where a gunman stormed the event in an alleged assassination attempt on the president.

Kimmel made the remark before the shooting took place.

The president’s issues with the network are not with Kimmel alone.

In a primetime speech last Thursday, Trump called out “NBC and ABC fake news” for refusing to broadcast his remarks over alleged election fraud – saying it should result in “a revocation of their licenses.”

FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who is currently conducting an early review of ABC’s broadcast TV licenses, agreed that the decision not to broadcast the president’s speech should be taken into consideration.

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In July 2025, CBS announced it was canceling “The Late Show,” which ran for 33 years, and firing Colbert, calling it “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

Fans and friends of Colbert alleged it was the network’s attempt to curry favor with the Trump administration as parent company Paramount sought approval for its $8.4 billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media, which was ultimately approved by the FCC.

Fallon, meanwhile, faced heated backlash from Dems after a 2016 interview in which he ruffled then-presidential candidate Trump’s hair, with leftists accusing him of “humanizing” the candidate.

The NBC comedian has repeatedly apologized for the interview – which prompted Trump in 2018 to tell Fallon to stop “whimpering” and “be a man.”

Trump has reached multimillion-dollar settlements with both ABC and Paramount Global, the owner of CBS. 

In December 2024, ABC agreed to pay $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ false claim that Trump was found liable of rape. 

Trump was found liable of sexual assault, not rape, and ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $5.8 million in a civil suit.

Last summer, Paramount reached a $16 settlement over accusations it misleadingly edited a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to make her answers appear more coherent ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

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