Stephen Colbert, the host of CBS Late Show who has been one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics, is once again generating controversy on Friday after he made a Nazi salute in reference to Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Colbert, CBS’s late night star who once made a crude remark about President Donald Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, returned to host his show this week after a two-week hiatus.
In his opening monologue, Colbert cracked jokes about Bannon, the now-departed White House aide who returned to head alt-right news site Breitbart.
Colbert’s jokes were interspersed with clips of Bannon talking to Charlie Rose of 60 Minutes in an interview that will be aired in full this Sunday.
Stephen Colbert (above), the host of CBS Late Show who has been one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics, is once again generating controversy on Friday after he made a Nazi salute in reference to Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon
In his opening monologue, Colbert cracked jokes about Bannon (seen above talking to CBS’s 60 Minutes in an interview that will air in full on Sunday), the now-departed White House aide who returned to head alt-right news site Breitbart
CBS has released portions of the interview in which Bannon is heard talking about a number of issues, including Trump’s controversial reaction to the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last month.
Trump was criticized for blaming ‘both sides’ after an anti-racist counter-protester was killed and 20 others were injured when a suspected neo-Nazi ploughed his car into a crowd of people on August 12.
In his 60 Minutes interview, Bannon defended Trump’s response to Charlottesville.
‘By the way, after the Charlottesville situation – that’s what I told John Kelly – I was the only guy that came out and tried to defend him,’ Bannon told 60 Minutes.
‘I was the only guy that said, “He’s talking about something that’s… taking it up to a higher level”,’ he said.
That’s when Colbert interjected.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Bannon defended Trump’s response to Charlottesville, saying the president was ‘taking it up to a higher level’. That’s when Colbert said: ‘Yeah, he’s definitely taking it to a higher level. I’d say his support is about up there. Right around here’
‘Or over here,’ Colbert said, adjusting his arm to give another mock Nazi salute. ‘Somewhere up there’
‘Yeah, he’s definitely taking it to a higher level. I’d say his support is about up there. Right around here,’ the former Colbert Report host said as he stretched his arm out to a 45-degree angle with his fingers extended similar to how the Nazis used to salute Adolf Hitler.
‘Or over here,’ Colbert said, adjusting his arm to give another mock Nazi salute.
‘Somewhere up there.’
Colbert has drawn criticism in the past for controversial statements about Trump.
On his May 1 broadcast, he lashed out at the president during his opening monologue, when he remarked that ‘the only thing [Trump’s] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c*** holster.’
The broadcast sparked thousands of complaints to the FCC, which launched a review.
The agency eventually declined to take any action against Colbert.