David Letterman is using his post–late night clout to call out the companies that once defined his career, turning his fire on Disney, CBS News and the executives behind Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and Bari Weiss’ rise inside CBS. His broadside lands at a moment when late night television is colliding with the Trump administration’s pressure campaign and a reshaped media landscape, forcing networks to decide how much political heat they are willing to absorb.
Letterman’s fury over Jimmy Kimmel and Disney’s risk calculus
David Letterman has framed the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel as a test of whether television still has the backbone to stand up to political power. After ABC pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live” from the air following pressure tied to the Trump administration, he publicly labeled the decision “ridiculous” and argued that a network cannot invite a host to speak his mind, then panic when that commentary angers the White House. In a video response circulated online, he described what happened to Jimmy Kimmel as “misery,” underscoring that the punishment was less about standards and more about executives capitulating to a hostile political environment that has grown sharper under President Donald Trump, a stance that echoed his earlier criticism of ABC’s move to sideline Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Letterman’s latest comments go further by tying that decision directly to Disney, which owns ABC, and accusing the company of abandoning its own talent when the political temperature rose. In a recent appearance, he blasted what he sees as corporate timidity, arguing that Disney and ABC invited this fight by hiring a politically outspoken comedian, then folded when Trump allies complained. His critique, reported in detail in coverage of how David Letterman has escalated his attacks, casts the Kimmel suspension as a warning shot to every late night host who might challenge the administration. A separate account of his remarks notes that his comments arrived at a turbulent moment for late night television, as networks face Trump administration backlash and weigh whether to prioritize advertiser comfort or the creative freedom that once defined the genre, a tension that framed his criticism of Disney and ABC in the first place, according to a detailed MSN report.
That through line is visible in shorter clips as well, including a widely shared exchange in which he is asked directly what he thinks about what happened “last night” to Jimmy Kimmel and responds that “this is misery” and “that is just not how this works,” a pointed rebuke captured in a Facebook video. A separate short clip of his reaction, shared on another platform, shows him reiterating that networks cannot claim to support free expression while yanking a host off the air under political pressure, a stance preserved in a YouTube short that has circulated among late night fans.
“Idiots” at CBS News and the Bari Weiss flashpoint
If Disney and ABC are Letterman’s example of corporate fear, CBS News is his case study in what he sees as institutional decay. In a recent public appearance, he unloaded on his former network, saying, “By the way, what about those idiots at CBS?” and declaring that “CBS News is a wreck” and “it’s just gone.” He accused the current leadership of trampling the organization’s legacy and suggested that the people who have “taken it over” have eviscerated its integrity, a blistering assessment that was recounted when he said he had “heard from” Jimmy Kimmel after the suspension and used the moment to pivot into a broader critique of CBS News. Another detailed summary of his remarks quotes him calling out the “idiots that have taken it over” and arguing that the network’s news division has been damaged by people who do not understand or respect its history, a theme that dominated coverage of how David Letterman has turned on his old home.
Letterman’s anger has sharpened further with the arrival of Bari Weiss as a central figure in CBS News’ future. Weiss, who founded The Fre, was hired in a move that surprised much of the media industry, since she is an unorthodox choice to run a massive television news organization and has built her brand on challenging what she sees as mainstream orthodoxy. Her appointment drew immediate scrutiny, with one account of Letterman’s comments quoting him telling “Kids, we’re far downstream of the midterms having any effect on this,” before arguing that the network’s integrity has been “eviscerated” and linking that decline to the decision to bring in Bari Weiss. Another report on the same controversy notes that Weiss’ hire “gained much notice in the media sector” precisely because she is such an unconventional pick to lead CBS News and that her internal memo, which asked staff “how you spend your working hours,” signaled a desire to reshape the culture of the newsroom, a shift that has fueled the backlash described in coverage of Weiss’ hire.
Letterman’s critique is not limited to offhand barbs. In another detailed account of his remarks, he is quoted blasting CBS and the “idiots that have taken it over,” arguing that the network’s news integrity has been trampled by current leadership and that the organization he once knew is “just gone,” a sentiment that has been widely shared among those alarmed by the direction of CBS. A separate overview of “What To Know” about his comments underscores that he is not simply nostalgic for an earlier era but is accusing present day executives of actively damaging CBS News’ credibility, a charge that has turned his once cordial relationship with the network into a very public feud, as summarized in a concise breakdown of What To Know about his latest broadside.
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