Seven staffers of far-left Late Show host Stephen Colbert were arrested last week at the Capitol for unlawful entry as they likely attempted to harass Republicans. Since the news broke late on Friday, an embarrassed CBS has allowed just 65 seconds total. All of it on CBS Saturday Morning. The network didn’t return to the incident over the weekend or on Monday.
CBS Morning hosts Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson love to play clips of Colbert, but they allowed no recap on Monday. ABC allowed similarly skimpy coverage. Just 25 seconds on Saturday’s Good Morning America. NBC has ignored it.
On CBS Saturday Morning, co-host Michelle Miller tried to soften the blow by making jokes, noting that one of the detained was Robert Smiegel, the man behind Triumph the Insult Comic:
And Triumph the Insult Comic dog is accused of running afoul of the law. U.S. Capitol Police arrested seven members of a TV production team in a congressional office building Thursday night and charged them with unlawful entry. The team, which includes comedy writer Robert Smigel, was working on a segment featuring the Triumph character for CBS's The Late Show. According to a CBS statement, the team has been conducting authorized and pre-arranged interviews in congressional members' offices, but was detained when they were filming in the hallways. Capitol police say additional charges could be filed.
Co-host Jeff Glor joked, “Triumph is an old, happy dog. Dog that’s temporarily in trouble.”
ABC, perhaps because they don’t have Colbert on the payroll, was less joke-y about the seriousness of it all. Here's all of coverage from Saturday's GMA:
Breaking news overnight: Capitol police reporting that seven members of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert have been arrested and charged with unlawful entry into a congressional office building. Capitol Police say the group had been directed to leave the building earlier in the day. In a statement, CBS says the team was there for authorized and prearranged interviews and then stayed to film stand-ups and other final comedy elements in the halls when they were detained.
You can guess that Colbert will find some way to explain this all away. The vile host has compared Republicans to Nazis and suggested that half of the GOP agree with the mass shooting in Buffalo.
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Transcripts are below. Click “expand” to read more.
Good Morning America
6/18/2022
7:14 AM ETEVA PILGRIM: Breaking news overnight: Capitol police reporting that seven members of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert have been arrested and charged with unlawful entry into a congressional office building. Capitol Police say the group had been directed to leave the building earlier in the day. In a statement, CBS says the team was there for authorized and prearranged interviews and then stayed to film stand-ups and other final comedy elements in the halls when they were detained.
CBS Saturday Morning
6/18/2022
8:21
MICHELLE MILLER: And Triumph the Insult Comic dog is accused of running afoul of the law. U.S. Capitol Police arrested seven members of a TV production team in a congressional office building Thursday night and charged them with unlawful entry. The team, which includes comedy writer Robert Smigel, was working on a segment featuring the Triumph character for CBS's The Late Show. According to a CBS statement, the team has been conducting authorized and pre-arranged interviews in congressional members' offices, but was detained when they were filming in the hallways. Capitol police say additional charges could be filed.
JEFF GLOR: Triumph is certainly allowed to be in studio. Authorized to be in studio. Stephen, I don’t know about in the Capitol in odd hours. They’re figuring it out.
DANA JACOBSON: I just saw Triumph in a look back at the ‘90s and Triumph and the first sock puppet from Pets.com. I had forgotten where Triumph came from.
GLOR: Triumph is an old, happy dog. Dog that’s temporarily in trouble.
JACOBSON: Not happy right now.
MILLER: Should be easily recognized. That’s all we’re saying.
JACOBSON: But there are rules also that you have to follow.
