\n\t\u201cGod bless whatever Stephen Colbert does next year with no network person to give him notes.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\tThat was the verdict of Roy Wood Jr.<\/a>, the host of CNN<\/a>\u2018s Have I Got News For You, when considering how the soon-to-depart CBS<\/a> late night presenter could use platforms like YouTube to make his anti-Trump voice heard extremely loudly soon. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhen he\u2019s running rampant on YouTube like Don Lemon that will create a bigger issue for this administration in 2026 if he builds an audience,\u201d added Wood Jr. \u201cIt will be a very different landscape if he continues to run off [after leaving CBS]. If [the Trump administration] were smart they would leave us alone and let us tell our jokes.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWood Jr. was speaking in the wake of Colbert\u2019s show being canceled, with the presenter set to exit next May. Paramount has reiterated repeatedly that the move is a financial one but many consider it to be influenced by Trump, and the POTUS has loudly celebrated the decision.<\/a> This has all taken place as the Paramount-Skydance merger has gone through and after Paramount settled with Trump over a questionable lawsuit targeting 60 Minutes.<\/p>\n \n\tWood Jr. said CNN is holding firm amid Trump\u2019s push against the media. One of the ways in which it is doing this, he added, is by having Conservative voices speak on the network. NBC, meanwhile, invited Fox Conservative commentator Greg Gutfeld onto the Jimmy Fallon show recently.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThis would be like if Piers Morgan went on Graham Norton,\u201d joked Wood Jr., flagging a British example to the audience at Edinburgh<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tIn this way, Wood Jr. said traditional networks can try and regain some audience trust in the mainstream media,<\/p>\n \n\tSadly, however, he went on to discuss how American journalists are not willing to sacrifice their jobs in order to make a political point.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know if there are enough American journalists who care enough about the totality of our society to sacrifice their career,\u201d he added. \u201cBecause then the question becomes, \u2018How many journalists can you fire until you find a compliant one?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n