Stephen Colbert shades Michigan man who switched from Dem to GOP during mocking mea culpa
Stephen Colbert has egg on his face.
In a mocking mea culpa Thursday night, the CBS “Late Show” funnyman admitted he was wrong to accuse Republican Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon of making up a story about a Democratic voter who switched to the GOP.
The man in question, Khalil Othman, 41, has confirmed to the Detroit Free Press that he is very real and changed his party affiliation due to his frustration about “pornographic” materials in school libraries.
“To claim that I’m not here, I don’t exist, I’m not human, that’s absolute ignorance,” Othman told the newspaper.
Colbert issued what he described as a “rare correkshun” after facing a backlash for the error in last week’s monologue.
“Here’s the thing, I don’t make many mistakes that I’m willing to admit. But when I do, I’m big enough to admit them,” Colbert said on his show.
“During a debate, she [Dixon] told a story that frankly I doubted,” he said. “This very real person deserves an apology because he says, ‘To claim that I’m not here, I don’t exist, I’m not human, that’s absolute ignorance.’ So I would like to apologize.
“It is a terrible thing for someone to deny your very existence. Just ask trans people,” the CBS star cracked, addressing Othman. “Therefore, I, Stephen Colbert, acknowledge that you exist and ask that you forgive me.”
But not willing to let well enough alone, Colbert went on to mock Othman because the former Dearborn City Council candidate told the Free Press that the host should have Googled his name beforehand.
“OK, fair enough. But I will point out that Dixon never said your name. So what am I supposed to search for?
“All she said was, ‘I had a gentleman come up to me, and he said I found content in my school library describing how to have sex to my son,’” Colbert continued.
“He said that should be enough. So let’s Google some keywords from that sentence,” he added before pulling out a laptop to do some research.
“I’m a parent and I believe that every parent has the right to be aware of what their kids see and read, just like everyone learning about this story has the right to know that as recently as October — last month — this guy claimed to be a Democratic politician but switched after he lost his primary and packed up his toys and went off in a huff to support an election-denying, transphobic, COVID-19 conspiracy theorist,” the host ranted.
“What a wonderful example for all of our children,” Colbert said sarcastically, adding, “By the way, fella, if you didn’t know that about Tudor Dixon before you supported her, you should Google it.”
Dixon cited Othman’s story during her debate against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Oct. 25.
“I had a gentleman come up to me just a few nights ago and he said, ‘I found content in my school library describing how to have sex to my son,’” she said in the clip of the debate Colbert played the next night.
“Dixon’s not the only one worried about this issue. So is this guy she totally made up,” he told the audience before showing the video.
“OK, fine, that happened,” he said sarcastically after the snippet played, using air quotes to drive home his skepticism.
