Less than twenty-four hours since pseudo comedian Stephen Colbert attempted to make light of his staff breaking into the United States Capitol building in a hypocritical attempt to film a “comedy” skit attacking Republicans for the January 6 riots, Fox News host Tucker Carlson slammed Colbert for his hypocrisy.
“So how is what Stephen Colbert did different from what the protesters on January 6 have been convicted of doing?” Carlson rhetorically asked. “His conclusion well, unlike Trump voters, Stephen Colbert's a very good person, therefore, any comparison to Trump voters is not simply ridiculous, it is a moral crime.”
Carlson then aired Colbert making excuses for his staff’s illegal behavior and attempted to deflect:
Now, it's predictable why these TV talkers are talking like this on the TV. They want to talk about something other than the January 6 hearings on the actual seditionist insurrection that led to the deaths of multiple people and the injury of over 140 police officers. But drawing any equivalence between rioters storming our capitol to prevent the counting of electoral ballots and a cigar-chomping toy doing is a shameful and grotesque insult to the memory of everyone who died. And it obscenely trivializes the service and the courage the Capitol Hill Police showed on that terrible day.
“Yeah. It was a toy dog. It's shameful” Carlson said sarcastically.
“In other words” Carlson continued. “When you criticize me you're really criticizing the brave Capitol Hill Police officers who arrested the people who work for me, the ones who committed the crimes I asked them to commit and I, for one, will not stand for that.”
Carlson noted that Colbert’s deflections and blameshifting is a “masters class on whiny rich liberal self-righteousness. It’s a distillation of a worldview that’s so concise and so perfect it's certain to be studied by cultural historians of the future seeking to understand how our civilization collapsed.”
Continuing to interpret Colbert’s comments into reality, Carlson proclaimed “not only am I not sorry, you're the criminal for bringing it up. Stop hitting me he screams as he punches you in the face.”
Later on in the segment, Carlson asked rhetorically if Colbert is really a comedian. And after playing a montage of his supposed comedy skits, he concluded what Colbert does “isn't comedy, it's a very sad midlife crisis but more than that it's information war being waged against television viewers on behalf of the Democratic Party.”
To read the relevant transcript of the June 21, 2022, Tucker Carlson Tonight segment click “expand”:
FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
6/21/2022
8:03:47 p.m. EasternTUCKER CARLSON: So how is what Stephen Colbert did different from what the protesters on January 6 have been convicted of doing? That's a very good question and it's a question Colbert himself spent the weekend thinking about. His conclusion well, unlike Trump voters, Stephen Colbert's a very good person, therefore, any comparison to Trump voters is not simply ridiculous, it is a moral crime. Watch.
[cuts to tape]
STEPHEN COLBERT: Now, it's predictable why these TV talkers are talking like this on the TV. They want to talk about something other than the January 6 hearings on the actual seditionist insurrection that led to the deaths of multiple people and the injury of over 140 police officers. But drawing any equivalence between rioters storming our capitol to prevent the counting of electoral ballots and a cigar-chomping toy doing is a shameful and grotesque insult to the memory of everyone who died. And it obscenely trivializes the service and the courage the Capitol Hill Police showed on that terrible day.
[cuts back to live]
CARLSON: Yeah. It was a toy dog. It's shameful. In other words, when you criticize me you're really criticizing the brave Capitol Hill Police officers who arrested the people who work for me, the ones who committed the crimes I asked them to commit and I, for one, will not stand for that. That's what he just said. Now what you have there is not much of an explanation, in fact, it doesn't explain anything. Instead, it’s a master's class on whiny rich liberal self-righteousness. It’s a distillation of a worldview that’s so concise and so perfect it's certain to be studied by cultural historians of the future seeking to understand how our civilization collapsed. Not only am I not sorry, you're the criminal for bringing it up. Stop hitting me he screams as he punches you in the face.
That is passive aggression taken to the level of art. And anyway Colbert says shut up, I'm a comedian with a toy dog, you can't criticize me. So the question really is, is Stephen Colbert a comedian? Well, if you're one of the relatively few people who still watches Stephen Colbert's show on CBS, you’ll have to admit it is hard to tell. Most nights Stephen Colbert sounds like the notably unfunny Karine Jean-Pierre. He sounds like a Biden flack delivering whatever talking points the White House tells him to repeat. And if you doubt that, here's what it looks like.
[cuts to video]
COLBERT: Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Biden did it.
[Cheers and applause].
He's our next President!
The biggest story continues to be the one you were thinking about when you weren't sleeping last night. And it's the one happening all over America, the protests in wake of the murder of George Floyd. And please don't buy the false narrative that these are lawless mobs. The vast majority of these protests have been peaceful.
There’s a simple if extremely difficult solution. Reduce the number of guns. We've done it before and it worked. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a humanitarian crisis but also it is a triumph of humanity.
Take that Putin!
Okay. So I might have the most privilege of any white person you've ever met. How do I identify that in my own life? If I have white privilege I want to be able to identify it. Give me some hints as to my white privilege.
♪♪♪♪ vaccine! ♪♪
[cuts back to live]
CARLSON: Get the vax peasants, surrender your guns, support Ukraine and remember it's called Kyiv now. This isn't comedy, it's a very sad midlife crisis but more than that it's information war being waged against television viewers on behalf of the Democratic Party. At least when the White House press secretary does it she admits what she's doing. Colbert hides behind his former job as a comedian. It was all a joke. When people I don’t like break into the capitol it's insurrection when we do it it's sketch comedy.
