

Donald Trump continued his crusade against some of American television’s most popular networks on personalities last Tuesday with an apparent warning to late-night host Seth Meyers, according to Deadline. The President released a statement on fringe social media platform Truth Social late into the evening which bemoans a rumored renewal of the comedian’s contract with parent company NBC.
Trump’s historic disdain for various celebrities has, of course, become one of the defining features of his online presence, with targets ranging from recent critics of his administration, like television host and political commentator Stephen Colbert, to people without any obvious connection to the President, like actress Kristen Stewart, who the business mogul feuded with all the way back in 2017 (via Entertainment Weekly). This also isn’t the first time the commander-in-chief has railed against Meyers: in January of this year, he declared that Comcast “should pay a BIG price” for airing “political hits” like Late Night with Seth Meyers, who he referred to as “Marble Mouth Meyers” (via Deadline).
Recent months, however, have seen the President begin to mobilize his resources (both personal and political) against disenfranchising those he perceives as unfairly biased against his presidency (via Deadline). Last December saw him successfully sue ABC for $15 million for defamation after “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos incorrectly stated the president was civilly liable for raping author E. Jean Carroll, according to NPR (in reality, Trump had only been found civilly liable for sexually abusing Carroll, not raping her). Most recently, he renewed a vow to have the FCC revoke the broadcasting licenses of ABC and NBC News over an alleged anti-conservative bias in the networks’ coverage of him. As such, Trump’s promise to “find out” why Late Night was renewed by NBC might signal that he plans to pursue similar maneuvers against Meyers.
Curiously, Trump’s report that Late Night with Seth Meyers’ contract had been recently extended seems to have no obvious basis in reality (via Deadline). Meyers did have his contract renewed through the end of 2028 in May of 2024, but it seems unlikely that this is what Trump is referring to, especially since the President has exhibited a particularly fast response time to announcements like these (his recent row with Chris Christie, for example, began just hours after the former governor appeared on This Week). While it’s certainly possible that Trump might have obtained insider knowledge, for now, the rumor in question will remain just that — a rumor.
As for the specific channels Trump might pursue to make his case against Meyers, the most likely candidate seems to be some version of the equal-time rule, which states that broadcasters who feature political candidates must provide a diversity of political viewpoints. Historically, talk shows — and all other forms of infotainment that don’t directly feature the candidates themselves — have been exempt from this rule. With that said, Trump’s FCC chairman Brendan Carr recently cited rhetoric not unlike that of the equal-time rule in his approval of the recent Paramount-Skydance merger, so Meyers might not be completely out of the woods just yet (via Deadline).
Deadline reached out to a spokesperson for Late Night with Seth Meyers, who had no comment on the President’s statement.
