David Letterman is firmly in Seth Meyers’ corner after Donald Trump pressured NBC to fire the late night host. The comedy legend gave Meyers a special shoutout during Tuesday’s episode of “The Barbara Gaines Show.”
“The President of the United States now wants to fire Seth Meyers. And I thought, ‘This is just delightful.’ How do you think that’s going to go?” Letterman said. “Anyway, I’ve never been more proud of Seth Meyers.”
Letterman was the first host of NBC’s “Late Night,” the show Meyers now hosts. He served as its host from 1982 to 1993 before Letterman moved to CBS and was replaced on NBC by Conan O’Brien. O’Brien then hosted until 2009 when Jimmy Fallon took over the desk. Meyers became the decades-long show’s host in 2014.
He went on to praise Meyers, saying that his colleague does a “magical job” hosting. “But just remember, Seth: Things happen,” Letterman cautioned sarcastically after using a quote Trump had said last week while discussing the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Meyers is the latest late night host to land on the president’s radar. On Nov. 15, Trump posted on Truth Social that Meyers “is suffering from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).” Trump also wrote that Meyers’ ratings are a “disaster” and that “Meyers has no talent, and NBC should fire him, IMMEDIATELY!”
Less than an hour after his post, chairperson of the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr reposted Trump’s rant.
Trump has previously said similar things about CBS’ Stephen Colbert and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel. Paramount claims the decision was made for financial reasons, but after Trump’s tirades about Colbert, CBS announced his show would be ending in May of 2026. As for Kimmel, Trump’s posts were followed by the whole suspension debacle (Kimmel is back on the air). Kimmel’s suspension was due to his comments about Charlie Kirk and largely came down to affiliate stations owned by Nexstar and Sinclair pressuring ABC.
The point is, there is a trend of Trump’s Truth Social posts about late night hosts proceeding actual actions. But since Comcast isn’t involved in any major merger or acquisition that could require FCC approval, Meyers is likely pretty safe.
