Late-night TV comedians struck a severe tone Wednesday while addressing what Stephen Colbert called “Charlottesville come home to roost on Capitol Hill.”
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Colbert and fellow talk-show hosts Jimmy Kimmel, James Corden, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon all altered their material last minute to cover the violent mob of pro-Trump extremists who attacked the Capitol, fueled by President Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud.
"Who could have seen this coming?" Colbert said on “The Late Show.” “Everyone? ... This is the most shocking, most tragic, least surprising thing I've ever seen. For years now, people have been telling you cowards that if you let the president lie about our democracy over and over and then join him in that lie … there will be a terrible price to pay.”
"Today was not patriotism," Fallon said on "The Tonight Show." “Today was terrorism. ... Today was a disgrace. Today was disappointing. But sadly, today was not a surprise.”
On "The Late Late Show" and "Late Night," respectively, Corden and Meyers responded to President Trump's widely criticized Wednesday address, in which he empathized with the rioters, called them "very special" and told them he loved them.
"Their hero, the president, released a message this afternoon to tell those supporters that 'you're special,' and 'we love you,'" Corden said. "I wouldn't want to even imagine his treatment or response to those people if they had been wearing Black Lives Matter hats instead of red MAGA ones."