Stephen Colbert has come rather unexpectedly under fire this week after a tweet that many found offensive, but which he claims he didn’t even send. The official Colbert Report Twitter account sent out a tweet, which has since been deleted, saying, “I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.”
Understandably, plenty of people found that pretty offensive, and before too long #CancelColbert was trending across Twitter as people shared their reactions to the message.
- China steals from The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert responds in the best way possible
You might also like:
Colbert defendants were quick to point out the context of the tweet however – namely that Colbert’s character on his show is ignorant and bigoted, and that his views are not those of Colbert himself, but are in fact views that he’s satirizing.
In this instance, his real target was Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who has established a foundation to support Native Americans in response to accusations that the Redskins’ name is offensive and racist. Colbert twisted this to incorporate ‘Ching-Chong Ding-Dong,’ a recurring Asian caricature on his show. The joke was at Snyder’s expense, not at Asians.’
- Is Stephen Colbert a secret NSA operative?
You might also like:
And the real kicker? For all of the attempts to get Colbert off the air, it wasn’t even him who sent out the tweet. It turns out @ColbertReport is helmed by Comedy Central staff, with no oversight at all from either Colbert or anyone directly involved in the show. Colbert himself tweets as @StephenAtHome, and has so far only had this to say:
#CancelColbert – I agree! Just saw @ColbertReport tweet. I share your rage. Who is that, though? I’m @StephenAtHome http://t.co/e0Pqz7U7i9
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) March 28, 2014
- Lena Dunham on SNL: 5 things that barely saved the show from sucking
You might also like:
Listen to Onion Radio News on FilmOn:
Follow TV Mix on Twitter: @tvmixusa
Contact TV Mix: editors@tvmix.com
SOURCE: TVMix.com
