Colbert’s ‘homophobic’ Trump joke brings FCC investigation
By Jeremy Dick
Stephen Colbert is standing by his controversial ‘homophobic’ Donald Trump joke, even though it’s prompting an investigation by the FCC.
Earlier this week, Late Show host Stephen Colbert ruffled some feathers with a controversial joke. During a tirade of insults directed at President Trump, Colbert suggested a sexual relationship between Trump and Vladimir Putin. Particularly, he says that the only thing Trump’s mouth is good for is being “Vladimir Putin’s c–k holster.”
This prompted an outcry from some viewers who insist the joke is homophobic. Many people flocked to Twitter with the hashtag #FireColbert, meant to pressure CBS into terminating him. In the aftermath, Colbert has stood by the comments, refusing to formally apologize for the joke.
Considering all of the horrible things Donald Trump himself has said, combined with the fact that he’s the freaking president, Colbert’s joke seems tame. There are more people defending him than there are calling for his firing. But there are still just enough people crying about it to launch an official FCC investigation into the matter.
Slate reports that the Federal Communications Commission is investigating the joke to determine if it’s truly obscene. “We are going to take the facts that we find and we are going to apply the law as it’s been set out by the Supreme Court and other courts and we’ll take the appropriate action,” promises Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman.
To quality as being too obscene for television, the joke must meet the standards of a three-tier system. It must “appeal to an average person’s prurient interest; depict or describe sexual conduct in a ‘patently offensive’ way; and, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
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In any case, don’t worry too much for Colbert, even if the FCC deems the joke obscene. Pai suggests that paying a fine is an appropriate punishment. So don’t expect Colbert to leave TV anytime soon.