Stephen Colbert had an unflinching message for US President Donald Trump in his first broadcast since his "Late Show" was cancelled amid a political firestorm -- "the gloves are off."Colbert, who addressed the cancellation of his show by a broadcaster that has been widely accused of seeking to curry favor with Trump for business reasons,

CBS said the cancellation wasn't related to "content or other matters happening at Paramount." Paramount controversially agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump over a "60 Minutes" interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Trump and Kimmel have shared some heated exchanges in the past. At the end of his hosting gig at the 96th Annual Academy Awards in March 2024, Kimmel took a moment to read a review of his performance that Trump had posted on his Truth Social account.

Kicking off Monday’s show with a joke about Trump wanting to change the name of the Washington Commanders NFL team (the “Washington Epsteins”, Colbert suggested), he walked into the Ed Sullivan theater to loud cheers and said “This is going to be fun”. It certainly was.

Fans of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aren’t letting the night program go down without putting up a fight. Instead, they’re letting their voices be heard as they protest the CBS series' cancellation on the network.