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Reaction to the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” unsurprisingly fell on partisan lines.
To sum up, President Donald Trump was gleeful on Truth Social, while prominent Democrats and liberal journalists and celebrities mourned the news and fumed at CBS for axing the progressive favorite.
Under Colbert since he took over in 2015, “The Late Show” became one of late-night’s most reliably partisan programs, with Democrats frequently booked for friendly interviews, abundant anti-Trump and anti-Republican jokes in his monologues, and the host himself even helping at a glitzy fundraiser for then-President Joe Biden last year.
Here are some of Colbert’s most partisan moments at the helm of “The Late Show.”
COLBERT SLAMS PARAMOUNT FOR SETTLING WITH TRUMP, ACCUSES HIS PARENT COMPANY OF OFFERING A ‘BIG FAT BRIBE’
Colbert coos he can’t think of any jokes about Michelle Obama’s speech
In summer 2020, Colbert, broadcasting remotely in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, gushed that he had no jokes after playing clips of Michelle Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech urging America to elect Joe Biden.
“My job is to have a joke for every time somebody says anything in public,” he said, smiling. “After watching Michelle Obama’s speech, I have never been more happy to fail at my job.”
That night, he also said, “For four years, we’ve looked on in horror as Donald Trump tore down every norm in American life. Well, tonight, the Democrats began what Joe Biden has called a battle for the soul of this nation.”
Colbert’s admiration for the Obamas was never a secret. At another point in 2017, after playing a clip of the former president just months into the first Trump term, he cooed, “I miss you,” to huge cheers from the audience.
Colbert dances with, high-fives Chuck Schumer
A video of the late-night host dancing with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at a concert in August 2021 made waves on social media.
Schumer and Colbert were widely criticized on X — then Twitter — for releasing the video in the midst of the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The video was posted just days after the Taliban seized the capital of Kabul and forced the U.S. Embassy there to evacuate, with American citizens left stranded in the country.
“Life is good for our blue elite while 1000s [sic] of Americans are stranded behind enemy lines,” one user wrote.
“Does anyone else throw up a little in their mouth watching this??” another person asked.
“The majority leader when Americans are trapped in Afghanistan,” another post read.
COLBERT JOKES SUPREME COURT SHOULD BE ‘CAREFUL’ BECAUSE ‘SEAL TEAM 6 CURRENTLY WORKS FOR JOE BIDEN’
Colbert pops champagne over Biden win, openly mourns Trump victories
Colbert was one of several late-night hosts who enthusiastically celebrated former President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
An overjoyed Colbert opened his first show after the race was officially called by pouring champagne to toast Biden’s win with his wife.
He happily declared, “Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Biden did it! He’s our next president!” before dancing. “I’m so happy!” He added that he cried with relief and suggested Trump’s political career was finished.
His reaction was quite the opposite after the 2016 and 2024 elections, which he treated like America’s funeral.
When it became clear that Trump was on the way to victory on the night of the 2016 election, Colbert appeared stunned.
“Wow. That’s a horrifying prospect. I can’t put a happy face on that, and that’s my job,” he admitted during a live election special that aired on Showtime. “How did our politics get so poisonous? Maybe we overdosed. We drank too much of the poison.”
After the 2024 election, Colbert said he had begun to lose his faith in humanity.
“It’s really hard to see a bright side here,” he conceded.
BIDEN’S STAR-STUDDED NYC FUNDRAISER RAISES MORE THAN $25M WHERE PHOTO WITH HIM, CLINTON, OBAMA COSTS $100K
Colbert officially shills for Democrats as moderator of glitzy Biden fundraiser
In March 2024, Colbert helped boost Biden’s re-election campaign – which Biden later abandoned – with a star-studded fundraiser in New York City. At the glitzy event, he moderated a conversation between Democratic Presidents Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. The record-setting fundraiser brought in $26 million for Biden’s presidential campaign.
The event was a who’s who of liberal elites, with Lizzo, Cynthia Erivo, Queen Latifah and other celebrities also in attendance. But Colbert was at the center of its marquee event. Organizers charged a minimum of $250 to attend and up to $500,000 for a more intimate, exclusive reception. For $100,000, guests got a photo with all three presidents taken by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz.
A fawning feature in Vogue praised Colbert for leading “a compelling conversation between Biden, Obama, and Clinton with tact, grace, and a lot of laughter.”
“Colbert kicked things off with a series of delightfully mordant questions, among them: ‘All three of you have been on Air Force One… that’s made by Boeing, right?’ ‘Do any of you have plans to sell golden sneakers?’ and ‘Is it nice to live in the White House, or do you always feel like you’re in a museum?,'” Vogue’s article gushed.
The evening ended with Colbert, Obama and Clinton putting on aviator sunglasses in tribute to Biden as the audience cheered and took pictures.
“The Vax-Scene”
COLBERT CELEBRATES END OF COVID EMERGENCY TO MASKED AUDIENCE: ‘I WISH YOU COULD SEE THE SMILES’ ON THEIR FACES
While not abjectly partisan, Colbert aired a number of odd skits during the pandemic where animated needles did covers of various songs urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Even some vaccine proponents found the presentation off-putting.
In a widely panned live bit after the show returned to a studio audience, Colbert did a dance routine with a quartet of people dressed as vaccines to the song “Tequila.”
Although “vaccine” contains only two syllables, Colbert and his dancers sang, “Vaccine!” in place of the song’s title, while the liberal crowd awkwardly watched and half-heartedly cheered.
In another COVID-related moment in 2021, Colbert found himself in the strange position of clashing with friend and former Comedy Central colleague Jon Stewart over the lab-leak theory.
Stewart memorably appeared on the show and espoused the lab-leak theory to a visibly troubled Colbert.
He suggested it wasn’t far-fetched to believe that the coronavirus pandemic originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab, comparing it to a chocolate outbreak near Hershey, Pennsylvania.
“Oh my God, there’s a novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China, what do we do?” Stewart joked. “Oh, you know who we could ask, the Wuhan novel respiratory coronavirus lab. The disease is the same name as the lab! That’s just a little too weird, don’t you think?”
“‘Oh my God, there’s been an outbreak of chocolaty goodness near Hershey, Penn. What do you think happened?’ I don’t know, maybe a steam shovel mated with a cocoa bean,” he said. “Or it’s the f—ing chocolate factory! Maybe that’s it!”
Colbert, a reliable sycophant for Democrats and liberal talking points, jokingly suggested Stewart was working for Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., with his comments.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
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