Stephen Colbert marked his penultimate episode of The Late Show with a complete host of celebrity guests — including some who were vocal about President Donald Trump.
Iconic musician Bruce Springsteen closed the Wednesday, May 20, episode of the CBS late-night talk show with a rendition of his anti-ICE protest song “Streets of Minneapolis,” but not before taking a shot at Trump, 79, and the owners of CBS’ parent company, Paramount Skydance.
“I’m here tonight in support for Stephen since you’re the primary guy in America who’s lost his show because we’ve got a president who can’t take a joke,” Springsteen, 76, said before his performance.
“And since Larry and David Ellison feel they should kiss his ass to get what they need,” the rocker added. “Stephen, these are small-minded people … they got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are speculated to be about.”
CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show in July 2025, citing financial reasons. Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped speculation that the show was canceled for political reasons.
Up to now, Trump has taken aim at Colbert, 62, and his fellow late night hosts. Upon news of the Late Show’s cancellation, the president wrote via his Truth Social page, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even lower than his rankings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!
“Greg Gutfeld is best than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show,” he added, referring to Jimmy Fallon.
On Wednesday’s second-to-last program, Colbert reversed roles together with his celebrity guests as he took the recent seat and fielded questions from the likes of Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Martha Stewart, Tiffany Haddish, Aubrey Plaza and more.
When De Niro, 82, sat in Colbert’s armchair to grill Colbert within the recurring segment “The Colbert Questionert,” the Oscar winner couldn’t resist a jab at Trump.
After asking Colbert what number he was pondering of (the reply was 3, by the best way), De Niro — a staunch critic of the president — quipped, “OK, ‘cause I believed it could have been 2.5 million. That’s the variety of Epstein files Trump still hasn’t released.”
Colbert’s final episode of The Late Show is about to air on Thursday, May 21, on CBS. In an interview with People published on Tuesday, May 19, Colbert teased that his final signoff will likely be “something easy.”
“I hope they laughed. I hope they felt higher at the top of the day,” he added of his viewers. “I mean, that’s it. We’re there. We’re the final thing you see. A number of things occur in a day, but we bat last, and so we get the last take that folks hear before they go to bed, and I hope it made their day higher.”