Stephen Colbert and his Comedy Central program The Colbert Report are facing scrutiny following an out-of-context, seemingly racist tweet posted to the show’s Twitter account Thursday night.
The tweet in question was a quote from last night’s Colbert Report episode in which the host was speaking about NFL Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who recently created the Washington Redskins Original American Foundation. The organization is a response to those who are calling for the Redskins’ name to be changed since it is offensive to the Native American community.
Colbert went into a bit about an offensive character he has had on the show since 2005, and said that he too will be creating a foundation for a reason similar to Snyder’s. That’s when he said a line that was then tweeted out of context on the show’s Twitter account.
The above tweet was deleted after the backlash began pouring in.
You can watch Colbert’s full segment below to see the context. The Redskins bit begins at the 5-minute mark. If you haven’t seen The Colbert Report before, you should know that Colbert is playing a satirical character based on conservative talk show hosts.
Since being tweeted, many have called for Colbert’s show to be canceled. The hashtag #CancelColbert has been trending on Twitter for hours and also appeared in Facebook’s Trending section. At the time of this writing, the name of his show is still trending in light of these remarks.
Colbert responded to the backlash with the following tweet on his personal account. As usual, he stayed in character:
#CancelColbert – I agree! Just saw @ColbertReport tweet. I share your rage.
Who is that, though? I'm @StephenAtHome
http://t.co/e0Pqz7U7i9
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) March 28, 2014
The show’s Twitter also shared a couple of comments separating the show’s host from management of The Colbert Report account:
For the record @ColbertReport is not controlled by Stephen Colbert or his show. He is @StephenAtHome Sorry for the confusion #CancelColbert
— The Colbert Report (@ColbertReport) March 28, 2014
This is a Comedy Central account, with no oversight from Stephen/show. Here is quoted line in context http://t.co/UFnaFfOSpn #cancelcolbert
— The Colbert Report (@ColbertReport) March 28, 2014
While it’s true that the comments were offensive, it’s important to remember that this comment was taken out of context. The Colbert Report is a 100% satirical program mocking white, conservative talk show hosts that you see on 24-hour news channels. With that said, Comedy Central should carefully consider what they’re tweeting to ensure that it can’t be taken out of context.
It’s also important to consider that Colbert has been taking down real racists on his show for years. This is nothing new. It’s one moment that went viral.