Late-night comedy show host Stephen Colbert on Monday addressed the arrests of members of his production team on the grounds of the Capitol last week.
In his opening monologue for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the host said his crew went through the proper security clearances and were “invited” into the offices of both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill before being “approached and detained” by the Capitol Police. Colbert argued that a heightened state of alert by the Capitol Police as a result of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot led to the “detainment.”
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“How was your weekend?” Colbert joked to start the show. “I certainly had an interesting one because some of my staff had a memorable one.”
Colbert, 58, explained that last week he agreed to allow Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a cigar-smoking puppet handled by comedian Robert Smigel, to go to Washington, D.C., to interview politicians to highlight the Jan. 6 committee hearings.
“Triumph and my folks shot for two days in congressional offices across the street from Capitol building. They went through security clearance, shot all day Wednesday, all day Thursday, invited into the offices of the people they were interviewing,” Colbert said.
“After they finished their interviews, they were doing some last-minute puppetry and jokey make ’em ups in a hallway, when Triumph and my folks were approached and detained by the Capitol Police, which actually isn’t that surprising,” Colbert continued.
He argued that the Capitol Police were being “cautious” because of the events of Jan. 6.
“The Capitol police are much more cautious than they were, say, 18 months ago — and for a very good reason. If you don’t know what that reason is, I know what news network you watch,” Colbert said.
The late-night host argued the incident was “a fairly simple story” and that everyone involved was “just doing their job.”
“The Capitol Police were just doing their job. My staff was just doing their job. Everyone was very professional. Everyone was very calm. My staffers were detained, processed, and released,” Colbert said, before railing against “TV people” who compared the actions of Colbert’s team to the rioters on Jan. 6.
“This was first-degree puppetry. This was high jinks with intent to goof. Misappropriation of an old Conan bit,” Colbert joked.
“Drawing any equivalence between rioters storming our Capitol to prevent the counting of electoral ballots and a cigar-chomping toy dog is a shameful and grotesque insult to the memory of everyone who died,” Colbert added.
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At around 8:30 p.m. on June 16, the Capitol Police said it “received a call for a disturbance in the Longworth House Office Building” and that officers spotted “seven individuals, unescorted and without Congressional ID, in a sixth-floor hallway” of a building that was closed to visitors.
The officers determined the people, members of Colbert’s team, were “part of a group that had been directed by the [Capitol Police] to leave the building earlier in the day.” They were charged with unlawful entry, and the case is “an active criminal investigation” that “may result in additional criminal charges,” according to the Capitol Police.
