Jay Leno Points Fingers at Modern Late-Night Hosts for Getting Too Political After The Late Show’s Sudden Cancellation

Jay Leno is speaking out about the political landscape of late-night television, given the recent cancellation of The Late Show.

In a July 27 interview with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, the comedian and former late-night host said, “I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but what happens is people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other.”

“I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture,” he added.

Leno, 75, hosted The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2009 and then again — after a messy, public handover-gone-wrong with Conan O’Brien — from 2010 to 2014. While there was plenty of political fodder during that time, he said he tried not to alienate viewers by going too far to one side or the other.

“Why shoot for half an audience? Why not try to get the whole? I like to bring people into the big picture. I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group,” he said. “Or just don’t do it at all. I’m not saying you have to throw your support or whatever, but just do what’s funny.”

In fact, Leno said, he prided himself when angry feedback came from both sides of the aisle.

“It was fun to me when I got hate letters: ‘You and your Republican friends’ [or] ‘Well, I hope you and your Democratic buddies are happy’… over the same joke,” he recalled. “I go, ‘Well, that’s good.’ That’s how you get a whole audience. [Nowadays], you have to be content with half the audience because you have to give your opinion.”

Leno’s criticism comes just over a week after Stephen Colbert made the shocking announcement that his No. 1-rated Late Show was being canceled after more than 30 years.

The timing of the July 17 decision quickly prompted speculation about whether or not politics were involved in the decision, as Colbert had just used his platform to slam CBS’ parent company, Paramount.

The company recently courted favor with President Donald Trump by agreeing to donate millions toward his future presidential library while in the midst of a merger with entertainment company Skydance — a deal that required, and subsequently received, approval from the Trump administration.

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In a statement from CBS shared with PEOPLE, the network said its decision to end The Late Show — which ranks first in its time slot and, days before the cancellation announcement, received its ninth Emmy nomination for Outstanding Talk Series — was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

The network added that the cancellation was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

In the days following the Late Show‘s cancellation, Colbert’s fellow late-night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, John Oliver and Andy Cohen, all turned out to show their support, earning a new wave of ire from Trump in the process.

On Tuesday, July 22, the president took to his Truth Social account, claiming, “The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, [Jimmy] Fallon will be gone.”

“These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television,” he said. “It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”

Despite his multiple feuds with the president, Kimmel, 57, has maintained a different view about political neutrality than Leno.

In fact, in 2022, he admitted that he’d previously considered quitting his late-night show if he wasn’t allowed to make fun of Trump.

“There was one time, right around the beginning of this whole Trump thing… maybe not quite [eight years ago],” Kimmel said on Stitcher’s Naked Lunch podcast. “I said, listen, I get it, you’re right. I have lost half of my fanbase, maybe more. Ten years ago, among Republicans, I was the most popular talk show. At least, according to the research they did.”

“I get it if [blocking Trump jokes is] what they want to do,” Kimmel continued. “I said, ‘If that’s what you want to do, I don’t begrudge you for it, but I’m not going to do that. If you want someone else to host the show, that’s fine with me. I’m just not going to do it like that.’ ”