Comedian Stephen Colbert prompted nearly 6,000 FCC complaints earlier this month after he made a lewd gay sex joke to criticize President Trump.
A May 1 monologue on CBS’s “The Late Show” featured the host calling Mr. Trump a “c—- holster” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Viewer outrage sparked the trending Twitter hashtag #FireColbert. A Freedom of Information Act request filed for complaints now shows that anger cut across the political spectrum.
“There is nothing wrong with two men who love each other,” one transgender individual wrote, Politico reported Friday. “I don’t like Trump but I also don’t like anti-homosexual comments being aired for millions of people to see. I have to say, shame on you for allowing this.”
“I really thought we left this kind of bigotry in the waste bin of history,” a viewer from New York City added.
“I know all you Commie shills hate this president but it is your job to keep these Leftists from dragging this nation further into the gutter,” a third person from St. Petersburg, Florida, said.
The FCC told the website that more than 5,700 complaints were tallied between May 2-17.
SEE ALSO: Stephen Colbert uses vulgar gay sex joke to mock Donald Trump
Andrew Schwartzman, an attorney with Georgetown University’s Institute for Public Representation, told Politico “there is zero chance the FCC would even dream of bringing a obscenity case against this,” since the key word was bleeped out.
Mr. Colbert told a May 3 audience that he had no regrets over the joke.
“While I would do it again, I would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be,” the host said. “Now, 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, to me, is an American hero. I think we can all agree on that. I hope even the president and I can agree on that. Nothing else, but that.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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