“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert’s impromptu remark about CNN prompted an unexpected reaction from the show’s New York City audience on Tuesday.
CNN anchor Caitlin Collins appeared on the late-night comedy show to discuss why President Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race, the relationship between the media and former President Trump, and the impact Vice President Harris has had on the 2024 presidential election.
Collins said the sudden change in the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of office in late July threw the Trump campaign into disarray. She argued that Trump had a “really hard time” coming up with an effective attack line against his new opponent, Harris. Colbert then moved on to praise Collins’ news organization.
“We know you guys are objective and just reporting the news as it is,” he told Collins, as the audience began laughing behind him.
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“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert drew an unexpected reaction from his New York audience after praising CNN for its objective news. (CBS/Screenshot)
“No, no, no,” Colbert said with a wave of his hand, grinning at the audience’s reaction. “CNN…” he paused.
“Was that a comedic line?” Collins replied with a grin.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like that, but it is,” Colbert joked back, before quickly returning to the question.
The exchange was first spotted by Brent Baker of the Media Research Center, X Clip.
“Even the New York left is not taking CNN’s claims objectively,” he wrote.
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“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert got an unexpected response after praising CNN for its objectivity. (CBS “Late Show”/Screenshot)
During Trump’s presidency, CNN developed a reputation as a partisan news outlet due to a dominance of anti-Trump tone in its prime-time programming. Then-White House press secretary Jim Acosta was frequently at odds with members of the administration. As a result, Trump called CNN “fake news” for years.
Chris Licht, a television producer who once served as executive producer on Colbert’s show, has said he wants to take over the network in 2022 and tone down the left-leaning opinion programming that dominated the network under his predecessor, Jeff Zucker. He has courted Republicans who felt alienated by past coverage and fired some well-known liberal anchors and reporters, but kept all of Zucker’s staff with the company.
Licht was ultimately fired in 2023 after reportedly losing the trust of the department’s long-embattled liberal employees.
Left-leaning commentators Jeffrey Toobin, Don Lemon and Brian Stelter have appeared on the station in recent months after being pushed out under Mr. Licht’s leadership.
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Fox News’ Brian Flood and David Latz contributed to this report.
