Comedian Stephen Colbert responded Wednesday night to a media frenzy that erupted this week after he used a vulgar gay sex joke to attack President Donald Trump.
The hashtag #FireColbert trended on Twitter and media outlets blasted CBS’ “Late Night” host for calling Mr. Trump a “c-k holster” for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday night. Mr. Colbert addressed the growing controversy in his opening monologue by first asking, “Am I still the host?”
“Now, folks, if you saw my monologue on Monday you know that I was a little upset with Donald Trump for insulting a friend of mine,” Mr. Colbert said of the president abruptly ending a “Face the Nation” interview with John Dickerson. “So at the end of that monologue, I had a few choice insults for the president in return. I don’t regret that. I believe he can take care of himself.”
Mr. Colbert then said he would behave the same way with minor edits if he could turn back time.
“While I would do it again, I would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be. 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.”
The host’s last remark was seemingly aimed at critics like The Intercept’s Glen Greenwald, who tweeted after Monday’s show that “homophobia for the right cause, with the right targets, is good homophobia, apparently.”
SEE ALSO: Stephen Colbert uses vulgar gay sex joke to mock Donald Trump
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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