Donald Trump Says Gayle King’s ‘Career Is Over’ Amid CBS Exit Rumors

Donald Trump in July 2025; Gayle King in June 2025.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Hill & Valley Forum; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Donald Trump shared his thoughts on recent reports that Gayle King‘s future at CBS is uncertain.

“​​Gayle King’s career is over. She should have stayed with her belief in TRUMP,” Trump wrote in a Monday, August 4, Truth Social post while sharing a link to the New York Post‘s report about King. “She never had the courage to do so. No talent, no ratings, no strength!!!”

Per a report published by the site on Monday, CBS allegedly may not choose to renew King’s multimillion-dollar extension with the network when it ends in May 2026. Sources claimed to the outlet that King and CBS Mornings executive producer Shawna Thomas’ diversity and inclusivity efforts have supposedly alienated viewers and led to a decrease in viewership.

“The audience doesn’t want woke. It doesn’t like progressive and provocative bookings,” one source told the Post. “The morning show audience wants optimism and cheer and joy, and what they were producing is at odds with audience expectations.”

The report alleges that Thomas ignored former CBS News president Wendy McMahon’s initiatives to appeal more to middle America, and that she was saved from a potential firing because of support from King.

'CBS Mornings' - Tony Dokoupil, Gayle King, and Nate Burleson

Michele Crowe/CBS

“In these cases, you have to fire somebody. Wendy McMahon was not strong enough. She needed a head on a stick, but Shawna had the protection of Gayle King,” an anonymous producer alleged to the outlet. “Executive producers are the servants of the anchors. They don’t survive unless they do what the anchors tell them.”

The rumors about King’s CBS future also come as the network’s parent company, Paramount, recently sealed its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance. The FCC allegedly approved the merger after Skydance hired an ombudsman to monitor political bias at CBS News and after Paramount eliminated its DEI policies, per the report.

Before the merger’s completion, CBS shocked viewers by announcing that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026. While the network claimed the decision was purely financial, some have speculated that it was politically motivated, as Paramount settled a $16 million lawsuit with Trump shortly before the cancellation. Trump previously accused 60 Minutes of heavily editing a 2024 interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump celebrated The Late Show‘s cancellation via Truth Social on July 18, writing, “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!”

Referring to The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, he continued, “[Fox News’] Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”

Stephen Colbert, for his part, clapped back at Trump during the late-night show’s July 21 episode, joking, “How dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go f*** yourself!”