Leno’s comments, made in a conversation with the Ronald Reagan Institute, were published by the foundation on 22 July, shortly after Stephen Colbert’s US talk show was cancelled by the US broadcaster CBS – in what Colbert’s supporters believe was a politically motivated act due to Colbert’s regular lampooning of Donald Trump.

David Letterman delivered a fiery rant against CBS and parent company Paramount for cancelling Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” calling the decision “gutless” and “pure cowardice” as he labeled his successor a martyr of the network.