As Twitchy reported last night, comedian Stephen Colbert is in hot water over a tweet satirizing Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder and his launch of the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation:
http://twitter.com/#!/ColbertReport/status/449320692446920704
The tweet has been deleted, and the verified Colbert Report Twitter account, owned and operated by Comedy Central, is now saying Colbert and his staff weren’t responsible:
https://twitter.com/ColbertReport/status/449395265251078144
https://twitter.com/ColbertReport/status/449406887306731520
Defenders of Colbert and/or The Colbert Report say the tweet wasn’t racist because it was satire:
Um, do people not realize the Colbert Report is an intentional satire on right-wing journalism, including the inherent racism? ITS SATIRE.
— Trapper Sean, M.D. (@TrapperSeanMD) March 28, 2014
I'm Asian-American and I don't find that tweet offensive because I UNDERSTAND WHAT SATIRE IS AND THE FUNCTION IT SERVES IN SOCIETY. #Colbert
— kev (@youngwonton) March 28, 2014
if you take Colbert as anything but satire, you must truly be an idiot.
— Runs-With-Thunder (@TbirdAoS77) March 28, 2014
Wait did people forget Colbert is a satire of a bigot?
— Katra (@KatraHigher) March 28, 2014
Among those making this argument is MSNBC host Touré:
https://twitter.com/Toure/status/449410181055913984
https://twitter.com/Toure/status/449411932525965312
He also retweeted these:
Lol. The #CancelColbert thing is ridiculous.
— Scotty G (@DarthRedsFan) March 28, 2014
Recommended
#CancelColbert because selective outrage begins where context ends.
— Quirk Douglas (@ScottFriedstein) March 28, 2014
All you #CancelColbert folks do realize he does satire, right? And he *really* means the opposite of what he says when he's in character?
— Amy Durfee West (@HeartOverdBars) March 28, 2014
Stupid people make me angry. #cancelcolbert. Satire is meant to highlight ignorance, but when you take it seriously, you just look stupid.
— Brad (@bradnd99) March 28, 2014
good to see the reason #cancelcolbert is trending is people making fun of those who actually want to cancel his show.
— Maury / caldrax (@maurydegeofroy) March 28, 2014
But Touré was singing a different tune last year when The Onion “jokingly” called actress Quvenzhané Wallis a c**t:
https://twitter.com/Toure/status/306241318068310017
https://twitter.com/Toure/status/306250395842408448
https://twitter.com/Toure/status/306127215408582656
We’re sure Touré would have been laughing up a storm if the Colbert Report had used this rhyme instead of “ching chong ding dong.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member