As you may have already heard, Stephen Colbert spent a good ten minutes tearing into Donald Trump - in a very specific way - earlier this week.
The monologue, which went viral, featured Colbert calling Donald Trump's mouth a "cock-holster" for Vladimir Putin and was met with backlash by some as being homophobic. A day or two later, Colbert apologised for his choice of words, but naturally didn't apologise for insulting Donald Trump.
Well, fast-forward to today and it's been confirmed that the FCC - the US communications regulatory agency - is investigating Stephen Colbert over his comments. The FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai - who just so happens to be a Republican - said in an interview that he's seen the clip and that the FCC has received "a number" of complaints about the monologue.
Speaking to Philadelphia's Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Pai said that the FCC is "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," which is not at all disturbing when you think about it.
For one thing, Colbert's show goes out after the 10PM watershed, so saying cock-holster is fair game. More to the point, the word was bleeped out and his mouth was blurred, so it's not as if it made it through or anything. Secondly, it's a comedy show and satire is generally covered under free speech laws in the US. Thirdly, a guest later in the week - Jim Parsons from The Big Bang Theory, and also happens to be gay - didn't seem all that offended by it.
Speaking on the show on Wednesday, Parsons told Colbert that, "(as) a gay man, I didn’t know certain things - that’s titillating. I wouldn’t call it homophobic. That’s just my take on your good form."
So, yeah, the FCC is investigating a comedian for making an off-colour joke about Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. This is actually happening now.
