Stephen Colbert’s conservative political pundit character may have been fake but he won’t be soon forgotten; Colbert frequently waded into real-life controversy during his years on Comedy Central. Here are some of the most famous incidents:
• Colbert tricked Hungary into almost naming a bridge after him. (2006)
When he found out Hungary was letting the people decide what to name a bridge over the Danube, Colbert urged his fans to vote (over and over and over) for his name. “Carpal tunnel’s a small price to pay for this gift to the Hungarian people,” Colbert said, encouraging everyone to use their Internet wizardry to make it the Stephen Colbert Bridge. He won! But Hungary wasn’t thrilled with the victory, declared him ineligible and eventually named it the Megyeri Bridge.
• That White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech. (2006)
Colbert’s most-famous real-life moment? Probably the dinner where he skewered President George W. Bush.
• When he goaded Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., to make a joke about cocaine. (2006)
On “Better Know a District,” Colbert asked Wexler to complete a sentence starting “I enjoy cocaine because …” Wexler’s answer was “… it’s a fun thing to do.” Of course, that got picked up everywhere, and Wexler told the AP “I think it’s an important thing for members of Congress to be able to participate in a good-natured joke.”
• That time Colbert testified on Capitol Hill about migrant farm workers. (2010)
Sample quote: “I was a cornpacker. I know that term is offensive to some people because cornpacker is a derogatory term for a gay Iowan. And I hope I didn’t offend anybody.” At the time, The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake said the stunt, at a House Judiciary Subcommittee, “made a mockery of Congress.”
• When Colbert and Jon Stewart staged the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. (2010)
The D.C. Metro basically shut down as hundreds of thousands people attended the rally (a parody of what others have done, particularly Glenn Beck) on the National Mall.
• Colbert created a Super PAC. (2011)
He came back to Washington in 2011 to testify in front of the Federal Election Commission when he wanted to form his own Super PAC. The FEC approved it, and that’s how “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow” was born. It raised about a million dollars, incensing some people. But it also earned Colbert a Peabody Award for teaching America about …well, what a Super PAC actually means.
• The pink slime joke. (2012)
Angry viewers called Colbert transphobic when he made a pink slime joke: “Our beef now has so many hormones, it’s a member of the transgender community.” When people demanded an apology, he gave them a “Colbology”: “I, Stephen Colbert, apologize to any of my transgender bovine viewers that may have been offended. No matter how you were born, no matter how you identify, I want to be clear that I would be proud to grind you up and eat you.”
• The Twitter controversy. (2014)
Colbert came under fire whoever runs his show’s Twitter account tweeted this: “I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.” People demanded an apology, though it was actually an out-of-context quote from a bit where he was making fun of Redskins owner Dan Snyder starting his “Original Americans Foundation” amid the team’s name controversy. Naturally, Colbert had a field day when #CancelColbert took over Twitter. (Even though he hadn’t actually tweeted the quote.)
