Stephen Colbert’s Most Controversial Talk Show Moments

Stephen Colbert has spent years turning politics into punchlines throughout his run on ‘The Colbert Report’ and ‘The Late Show’, where satire and real-world politics often blended in ways that sometimes sparked major controversy. In a 2014 episode of ‘The Colbert Report,’ Colbert mocked Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder’s response to criticism over the team name, joking about creating a fake nonprofit organization. The joke drew intense backlash from parts of the Asian-American community over the use of racial slurs in the fictional group name, and it even sparked a viral hashtag calling for his cancellation. Colbert has also repeatedly leaned into political satire by joking about running for president. After polling ahead of the 2012 Republican candidate Jon Huntsman in South Carolina, he launched an exploratory committee. In 2025, CBS sadly announced it would be ending ‘The Late Show’ in May 2026, with some questioning the timing of the decision, as it came very shortly after Colbert’s criticism of parent company Paramount.