Stephen Colbert responded to #FireColbert backlash over a crude oral-sex joke he made about President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Monday, May 1. Trump supporters and others thought the comment was inappropriate and called for the comedian to be dropped from the CBS show. Watch Colbert’s response in the video above.
The TV host, 52, opened his Wednesday, May 3, episode by addressing the controversy. “Welcome to The Late Show,” he said. “I’m your host, Stephen Colbert. Still? I am still the host? I’m still the host!”
Colbert went on to explain that his scathing monologue was spurred by Trump abruptly ending an Oval Office interview with fellow CBS correspondent John Dickerson. “Now, if you saw my monologue Monday, you know that I was a little upset at Donald Trump for insulting a friend of mine,” he said. “So at the end of that monologue, I had a few choice insults for the president in return. I don’t regret that. He, I believe, can take care of himself. I have jokes; he has the launch codes. So, it’s a fair fight.”
He added that while he would “do it again,” he “would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be. “ He continued, “I’m not going to repeat the phrase, but I just want to say for the record, life is short, and anyone who expresses their love for another person, in their own way, is to me, an American hero,” he said. “I think we can all agree on that. I hope even the president and I can agree on that. Nothing else. But, that.”
