When Stephen Colbert brought Barack Obama up during his monologue on Tuesday night, the mere mention of the former president’s name drew loud cheers from his audience. “I know, wow,” the Late Show host said. “Y’all remember him, I guess.”
Colbert read aloud a portion of the “rare” statement Obama put out in response to the pair of mass shootings over the weekend. The section that got the most attention read, “We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.”
“Oh, now you want to be my dad?” the host said in response. “You left! And you don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.” Feigning tears, he added, “Papa, come back. Don’t leave me with the bad man!”
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After pointing out that Obama didn’t mention any specific leader by name in the statement, Colbert asked, “Who could it be? Well, the friendly friends over at the Fox & Friends have a pretty good idea.”
When Fox News host Brian Kilmeade suggested that Obama may have been alluding to Trump, his co-host Steve Doocy replied, “Ya think?”
“C’mon, Doocy, don’t accuse Brian Kilmeade of thinking,” Colbert joked. “It’s more like whatever mental activity that’s involved when a leaf decides to fall off a branch.”
President Trump himself tweeted out a quote from Kilmeade, who asked, “Did George Bush ever condemn Obama after Sandy Hook?”
“Wait, why are you acting so offended?” Colbert wanted to know. “Obama did not say Trump was the ‘racist,’ you just did. It’s one of the few times that you’ve stated a fact on camera.”
