Donald Trump supporters have begun calling for CBS to fire Stephen Colbert after the late night host made a joke describing Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin engaging in a sex act. According to Variety , the Trump and Putin sex joke was told as part of Colbert’s opening monologue on his Monday night show.
“Sir, you attract more skinheads than free Rogaine,” Colbert said. “You have more people marching against you than cancer. You talk like a sign language gorilla that got hit in the head. In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c**k holster.”
Colbert’s joke has triggered a harsh response from Trump-supporting conservatives, many of whom feel that Stephen Colbert should be dismissed from CBS for his comments about the president. Numerous right-wing websites such as Breitbart picked up on the story and took the opportunity to foment outrage. A hashtag #FireColbert quickly began trending on Twitter.
Worst thing is that nothing in #StephenColbert ‘s monologue was funny, just a litany of sophomoric insults of #PresidentTrump . #FireColbert
— PaulFrantizek ? (@FrantizekPaul) May 2, 2017
Some Trump supporters are calling for companies that sponsor Stephen Colbert’s show to pull their ads, threatening to boycott companies that continue to advertise during his show.
Demand @XyzalAllergy a @SanofiUS company end sponsorship of lewd, homophobic @colbertlateshow @CBS #FireColbert #CancelColbert pic.twitter.com/9WjBD49bgV
— Rosie Memos (@almostjingo) May 2, 2017
An article about the Stephen Colbert monologue was posted to right-wing website Breitbart Tuesday. As of this writing, there are nearly 7,000 comments from Breitbart readers below the article, most of which are highly critical of Colbert, calling for him to be fired by CBS.
Many of the people angry with Stephen Colbert are taking the opportunity to point out what they describe as homophobia implicit in the joke. Many of these comments, however, have a rather reactionary feel to them, wondering why it’s okay for “the left” to make homophobic remarks while media personalities on the right often get into trouble for similar comments.
“Interesting how homophobic insults are not a problem when they come from the left,” said one Breitbart commenter.
Some people are comparing Stephen Colbert’s telling of an arguably offensive joke to the mountains of sexual harassment allegations that led to Bill O’Reilly’s recent dismissal from Fox News. According to the New York Times , Bill O’Reilly and Fox paid out over $13 million in settlements over sexual harassment allegations against him, making the comparison a bit hard to swallow.
if @billoreilly was let go for accusations then @StephenAtHome should be fired for his homophobic statements! #FireColbert @CBS
— Ronald Reichert ?? ?????? (@RonaldReich14) May 2, 2017
It’s worth noting that this incident comes on the heels of last week’s controversy over a canceled Ann Coulter speech at the University of California at Berkeley. According to CNN , Coulter was invited by conservative student organizations to speak at the school when university officials canceled the event on its scheduled date over fears that potential protests would turn violent. Berkeley had been the site of a previously planned speech by conservative media personality Milo Yiannopoulos that was canceled the day of the event due to protests that turned violent and destructive. The city has also seen other incidents of violence between anti-fascist groups and right-wing extremists. Ann Coulter has made a career off of making offensive and provocative jokes and comments.
Perhaps a workable compromise on North Korea would be: We allow Kim to develop only warheads capable of reaching Tijuana.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) April 29, 2017
Some Twitter users who support Stephen Colbert have noted the irony in the fact that the right has in the course of one week switched from being self-described ardent champions of free speech to an outrage brigade upset over a nasty joke.
Can’t figure out why the “pro-free speech,” “Anti PC,” crowd is so triggered by a BJ joke. #firecolbert
— Keaton (@keatonc33) May 2, 2017
Literally every conservative that is tweeting #FireColbert tweeted about how freedom of speech is under attack like 5 days ago
— emily anastasia (@dearratgirl) May 2, 2017
Stephen Colbert will likely not be fired for making an oral sex joke about Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Whether Donald Trump’s outraged supporters manage to organize effectively enough to chase away any of his sponsors remains to be seen, but they are certainly going to give it their best shot.
[Featured Image by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images]