Late-night television is gasping its last breath, and the Left is making sure it goes out with a political bang.
Bruce Springsteen showed up to eulogize a show that most Americans stopped watching years ago.
And what he said before a single note was played had Donald Trump firing back with both barrels.
Springsteen Takes the Stage — and Takes His Shots
Rock legend Bruce Springsteen appeared on the second-to-last episode of *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert* on CBS. He didn’t waste any time getting to the point.
Before performing his song “Streets of Minneapolis,” Springsteen went straight after President Trump and the Ellison family — the billionaire owners of Paramount, CBS’s parent company, and prominent Trump supporters.
“I am here in support tonight for Stephen because you’re the first guy in America who’s lost his show because we got a president who can’t take a joke,” Springsteen told the audience inside the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.
He kept going. “And because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want,” Springsteen continued, drawing loud applause from the crowd.
“Anyway, Stephen, these are small-minded people. They got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about. This is for you.”
And with that, he launched into the song.
What the Song Is Actually About
“Streets of Minneapolis” targets the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. The song references the deaths of two individuals — Alex Pretti and Renee Good — who died in violent confrontations with federal officers during federal immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis, describing federal agents as “thugs.” Its lyrics refer to “King Trump” and take aim at presidential advisor Stephen Miller by name.
Words like “RESISTANCE” and “TRUTH” were projected onto an American flag backdrop throughout the performance.
Worth pausing on that image for a moment. A man worth hundreds of millions of dollars, performing on a major television network, projecting the word “RESISTANCE” onto an American flag — while the show’s cancellation was driven, at least in part, by the same network’s business decisions. The irony practically writes itself.
The Cancellation Nobody Will Explain Straight
CBS has maintained publicly that the decision to cancel *The Late Show* was, in its words, “purely a financial decision.”
But the timing has raised more than a few eyebrows. The cancellation announcement came just days after Colbert mocked a $16 million settlement that CBS’s parent company Paramount paid to President Trump, which Colbert called “a big fat bribe” on air. That settlement was finalized while Paramount was actively seeking federal regulatory approval for a merger.
And the news broke mere weeks before Larry and David Ellison — both vocal Trump supporters — finalized their takeover of Paramount Global.
So the story the network is telling doesn’t quite line up with the calendar. Draw your own conclusions.
Trump Wasn’t Going to Stay Quiet
President Trump had already weighed in on Colbert’s cancellation before Springsteen ever set foot on that stage. He celebrated it publicly on Truth Social.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!” the President posted.
The White House also sent a statement to reporters. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said “Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck with no talent and terrible ratings, which is exactly why CBS canceled his show and is booting him off the airwaves.”
Trump has previously called Springsteen a “pushy, obnoxious JERK” on Truth Social, so nobody should be shocked the President wasn’t moved by the performance.
The Bigger Picture Here
Colbert himself has spent his final weeks on the air playing it relatively cool — cracking jokes, hosting celebrity guests, and largely avoiding direct attacks on CBS or the Ellisons. He’s let the guests do the heavy lifting instead.
Robert De Niro showed up to take shots at Trump over what he called missing Epstein files. David Letterman, Colbert’s predecessor at the Ed Sullivan Theater, reportedly tossed furniture off the roof onto the CBS logo. And now Springsteen.
But here’s what’s getting glossed over in all the late-night eulogizing: Colbert’s ratings had been declining for years. The show’s audience shrank steadily as its political content became more and more one-note. By the end, it wasn’t appointment television for most Americans — it was a nightly sermon for people who already agreed with everything being said.
Springsteen is a genuine American rock legend. Nobody’s taking that away from him. But “Streets of Minneapolis” is a protest song about ICE enforcement operations that the majority of Americans actually support. Polling consistently shows broad public backing for immigration enforcement. The song treats federal law enforcement officers as villains for doing their jobs.
And performing it on a show being canceled partly because its anti-Trump content drove away viewers — while blaming Trump for the cancellation — is a neat trick if you can pull it off.
The final episode of *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert* airs tonight on CBS.
Sources: Mediaite, Variety, The Hill, The Wrap, LateNighter.com