Colbert's Controversial Comment

If you know me well, then you know how much I love late-night comedy. I think I already have 2 or 3 articles pertaining to the subject, so even if you don�t know me personally you may have picked up on the trend. And being the late-night comedy geek that I am, it would be impossible for me to not discuss what happened last week on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

            Recently, Colbert has been under fire for a few comments he made about Donald Trump and his relationship with Vladimir Putin. I will not directly quote what he said because of its� crudeness. In fact, the only thing I have to say about the joke itself is that it was quite cocky. You can go watch it yourself to see what I am talking about. But in all seriousness, I do not like this joke. It was unnecessary and classless. And it was sad to see Colbert stoop so low as to tossing insults around just for the applause and jeers of the audience. These kinds of jokes are the reason that many people turn off their TV�s when these types of shows come on. They make late-night look like liberal propaganda. And while almost all of late-night is left leaning (as I pointed out last week), they must be on their A-game to stay relevant and maintain viewership from people from both sides of the aisle. Conservative commentators are constantly looking for ammunition to discredit late-night comedians. Colbert�s joke last week was the equivalent of giving those commentators a cruise missile.

            However, something I have noticed and the main reason for this article is the hypocritical response to this joke from both liberals and conservatives. The day following the dropping of this joke, #firecolbert was trending on Twitter and Facebook. When I researched the uproar I even found a website dedicated to the removal of Colbert. It plainly stated that, �His obscene comments about President Trump are inexcusable.�

            While this does not have any relation to the purpose of this article, I thought that I would point out that this is not the first time that a hashtag calling for Colbert to be fired has been trending. Back in 2014 on the Colbert Report, Colbert faced backlash for a completely different reason. It is well-known that Colbert played a multitude of characters on that show. These characters were conservative and were used to refute conservative arguments. It was genius and hilarious. One of those characters was extremely racist towards Asians and in one of his segments, he parodied a move by the General Manager of the Washington Redskins who created the �Washington Redskins Foundation for Original Americans.� Colbert responded by creating the �Ching Chong Ding Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever� to mock the Redskins. It was a funny joke. The next day, the shows� twitter tweeted, �I am willing to show #Asian community I care introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.� Without the context of the episode to explain the joke, outrage ensued. The hashtag �Cancel Colbert� went viral much like it did this time. However, Colbert was justified back then as opposed to now. And much of his criticism then came from liberals, not conservatives. I was on Colbert�s side then and while I still am a fan of Colbert, I am not necessarily on his side this time around.

            The response to Colbert�s recent joke perfectly exposes the hypocrisy inherent on both sides of the political spectrum. The same people calling for the firing of Colbert are the ones who criticize colleges for not allowing people like Ann Coulter (who is known to make crude comments) to speak, citing the First Amendment. And liberals in defense of political correctness are applauding this obscene remark. If you are truly in support of the First Amendment or political correctness, you should defend it no matter the circumstance. But what one should do and what people actually do are completely different. There are many things I should do but neglect to do them. I should probably be studying for a chemistry test that I have tomorrow, but instead I�m sitting here writing this article.

            As I continue to write these blogs and become more enveloped in the media world, it has become increasingly easier to understand the rise of fake news. In the world of Facebook and Twitter, it is easy to hear only what you want to hear and see what you want to see. With the ability to simply ignore outlets that may contradict your views or assumptions, facts do not matter. You become entirely dependent on organizations that share your political views and only report on the issues you want to hear. You don�t have to listen to the other side of the story. This allows you to separate yourself from those that differ from you and lets you live in a bubble.  This whole Colbert controversy is evidence of that. Ideology has become more important than facts to many members of our society. It is a strange world we live in.