Donald Trump has turned his TV kiss of death on a new target: CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King.
The president gloated over Stephen Colbert losing his late-night talk show hosting job last month, then claimed he had “strong word” that Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon would be next. Trump said they had “NO TALENT” and boasted, “It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”
On Monday, the president reposted a New York Post article that quoted a source claiming King was in danger of losing her job at CBS amid falling ratings for the morning show and internal fears over their “woke” coverage.
Trump ranted on his social media, “Gayle King’s career is over. She should have stayed with her belief in TRUMP. She never had the courage to do so. No talent, no ratings, no strength!!!”
His comments come after Colbert was fired soon after CBS paid Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview. The settlement cleared the way for federal approval of an $8 billion merger between CBS and Skydance.
The Post article quoted a source saying the CBS Mornings audience “doesn’t want woke,” referencing a recent interview with Bob the Drag Queen promoting a book about Black historical figure Harriet Tubman.
“It doesn’t like progressive and provocative bookings,” the anonymous source claimed. “The morning show audience wants optimism and cheer and joy and what they were producing is at odds with audience expectations.”
Last month, CBS Mornings had 1.8 million viewers, behind Good Morning America on 2.625 million viewers and Today on 2.297 million.
The Daily Beast has approached King’s representatives for comment.
Despite Trump claiming King had “belief” in him, the pair have taken jabs at each other for many years. During the 2020 election debates, King commented on Trump saying he was “the least racist person in the room.”
“I wondered, who else was in the room?” King said on CBS. “When you’re a little kid your mom tells you actions speak louder than words.” King then referenced Trump’s “dog whistling” to white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys.
In March last year, King told CNN she was insulted by Trump saying of his mugshot, “You know who embraced it more than anybody else? The Black population. You see Black people walking around with my mugshot, they do shirts.”
“I thought it was insulting to people of color, to paint the Black community with one brush,” King said. “It made me so angry and I was so insulted by his words, he is implying that Black people have criminal problems.”
Speaking at the Democratic National Convention in August last year, King said Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was “so uniquely qualified” to be president.
In January, King poked the bear again when she called out the lack of diversity during Trump’s inauguration ceremony.
“I do not see many people of color. Does anybody else besides me observe that?” King said. “I’m fascinated by why that is?”
When asked about Trump attending the Super Bowl in February, King said, “He’s a sitting president and as we’ve seen he does what he wants when he wants.”
