Calling Meryl Streep “overrated” was just a bridge too far for Stephen Colbert.
The Late Show host used his monologue Monday night to address what has somehow become the biggest story of the day with a week and a half to go until Trump’s inauguration: His war with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award winner at the Golden Globes. Colbert called Streep the "real star" of the night, who "stole the show" by taking Donald Trump to task when she took the stage to collect her award.
“Of course, President-elect Trump was too focused on defeating ISIS to creating jobs to pick a fight with a celebrity,” Colbert told his audience after recapping Streep’s searing acceptance speech. “Just kidding.”
From there, he read aloud Trump’s early morning tweets in which he called the actress “overrated” and denied that he ever mocked disabled New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, a video of which was widely used against him, to no avail, during the 2016 campaign.
“Wait a second, I’m sorry, what?” Colbert asked in disbelief, focusing on the first part of Trump’s Twitter rant. “Meryl Streep, overrated? Have you seen Sophie’s Choice? Have you seen The French Lieutenant’s Woman? Have you seen the one with the dead people that she’s even funny in that one?” (Death Becomes Her, which landed Streep one of her 30 Golden Globe nominations.)
“Mr. Trump, you can refuse to release your taxes, you can call to ban an entire religion, you can play footsie with a dictator, but calling Meryl Streep overrated? No,” Colbert declared. “No! Too far!”
Colbert joked that he wasn't going to join the Women's March on Washington this month, but now he's reconsidering. "It's going to be a Million Meryl March," he said. "I'll be the one holding the Blu-ray of Kramer vs. Kramer and weeping."
And to "future award-winning Meryl Streep role Kellyanne Conway," who criticized Streep for assuming what's in Trump's heart, Colbert said, "Yes, stop listening to his mouth, stop making fun of what's in his heart. It would be cruel, because his heart is severely disabled. It is medically incapable of empathy. Come on!"
