|
 Colbert, host of the "The Late Show" on CBS, made an oral sex
joke on Monday night about Trump and Putin during a scathing
diatribe against the U.S. president.
It triggered a #FireColbert trending Twitter hashtag, with Trump
supporters on Wednesday calling for a boycott of CBS Corp
advertisers, some people accusing Colbert of being homophobic,
others accusing left-wingers of hypocrisy, and still more
defending the comedian.
"Colbert's homophobia rant was disgusting and we won't tolerate
this anti-LGBTQ behavior," wrote Scott Presler, chairman of
Virginia Beach Young Republicans, on Twitter.
"#FireColbert? Please... I wish I could buy him a drink,"
tweeted a user with the handle @kingofsorrow954.
CBS on Wednesday declined to comment on Colbert's remarks, which
follow a surge in popularity for "The Late Show" since the host
stepped up his scathing nightly attacks on Trump. Colbert has
also remained silent on the social media reaction.
The bleeped oral sex joke, which referenced Trump's oft-stated
admiration for Putin during the 2016 election campaign, came at
the end of an insult-heavy monologue by Colbert.
Addressing Trump, Colbert said, "Sir, you attract more skinheads
than free Rogaine. You have more people marching against you
than cancer. You talk like a sign language gorilla that got hit
in the head."
Colbert told his audience that he was responding to Trump's
appearance on the CBS political show "Face the Nation" over the
weekend, when the Republican president walked out after telling
host John Dickerson that he liked to call the Sunday morning
news show "Deface the Nation."
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The White House did not immediately return a request for comment on
Colbert's monologue.
Colbert, 52, has been attracting the biggest audiences for
late-night U.S. television in recent months with his blistering
attacks on Trump.
Some 3 million people watch "The Late Show," according to ratings
data, which has challenged the genial formula of topical jokes,
games and celebrity guests seen on NBC rival "The Tonight Show" with
Jimmy Fallon.
"If we don't go after his network sponsors or affect their ratings
base, he will just get more popular," tweeted a user called
@hackenbush77.
Social media monitoring company Brandwatch said on Wednesday that
the #FireColbert hashtag had been used 200,000 times since Monday
and there had been more than 10,000 tweets about persuading brands
to pull their ad dollars from CBS.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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