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Did Stephen Colbert and Rachel Maddow Launch a 'Fire the Fool' Anti-Trump Rally?

The soon-to-be former host of "The Late Show" on CBS has been subject to many rumors about confrontations with guests and getting fired.

by Joey Esposito, Feb. 6, 2017


Image courtesy of Getty Images


In mid-July 2025, CBS announced "The Late Show" hosted by Stephen Colbert would end in May 2026, chalking up the move as "purely a financial decision." Critics suggested the cancellation was politically motivated, however. 

Colbert's show offered frequent criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump and allegedly ruffled some feathers with a joke about CBS' parent company Paramount settling a lawsuit with Trump for $16 million, which Colbert called "a big fat bribe."

Many claims about Colbert getting fired have circulated since he took over "The Late Show" from former host David Letterman in 2015. In light of the announcement that "The Late Show" is coming to an end, we've dug into the archive to highlight a few stories  looked into about Colbert:


By Joey Esposito

Joey Esposito has written for a variety of entertainment publications. He's into music, video games ... and birds.

On the left: U.S. President Donald Trump, a white man with blonde-white hair wearing a suit, points at the camera. On the right: Stephen Colbert, a white man with short dark hair wearing glasses, waves at the camera.

Checking Trump's claim CBS removed online evidence of his interview with Stephen Colbert

June 2, 2025

Clips of the 2015 interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" are, in fact, available on Y ...

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Karoline Leavitt didn't debate Stephen Colbert on 'The Late Show'

April 18, 2025

Versions of the claim featured in several YouTube videos marked as "altered or synthetic content."

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Don't fall for Pete Hegseth rumor claiming he stormed off Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show'

April 1, 2025

Despite misleading YouTube videos, U.S. President Donald Trump's defense secretary has never bee ...

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ABC Fired Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert?

March 5, 2024

"Their spark has faded, but their disease of wokeism has not," one commenter wrote on Facebook.

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Did These Late-Night Shows Shut Down Live Production During Writers' Strike?

May 2, 2023

The Writers Guild of America’s 11,500 unionized screenwriters stopped working at 12:01 a.m. on M ...

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Was Stephen Colbert Fired After One Phone Call from President Trump?

May 8, 2017

Although the FCC is looking into obscenity complaints against the late night host, Colbert was n ...

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Did Stephen Colbert and Rachel Maddow Launch a 'Fire the Fool' Anti-Trump Rally?

Feb. 6, 2017

A 'Fire the Fool' rally against President Trump was announced in February 2017, but the event wa ...

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