As news came that Fox News was giving longtime host Bill O’Reilly the boot after repeated sexual harassment allegations, no one took the news harder than conservative pundit Stephen Colbert.
No, not the Stephen Colbert host of “The Late Show,” but the character he used to play on “The Colbert Report.”
Colbert the parody character based his personality in large part on the antics of O’Reilly, Colbert (the real one) explained before bringing the character back on for a rare television appearance Wednesday night to give O’Reilly an appropriate sendoff.
“Hello nation,” Colbert’s character starts in his traditional address. “Shame on you. You failed him, you failed Bill O’Reilly. You didn’t deserve this great man. All he ever did was have your back and if you’re a woman, you know, have a go at the front, too. And what, suddenly sexual harassment’s a crime? But that’s the country we live in now. Obama’s Trump’s America.”
Colbert’s character then invited O’Reilly to join him and former “The Daily Show” host John Stewart, living in their mountain cabin.
Also tonight! Conservative pundit ‘Stephen Colbert’ reacts to #BillOReilly‘s dismissal from Fox News. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/p8IJtmKBcn
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) April 20, 2017
Colbert wasn’t the only late night host to celebrate O’Reilly’s downfall. As Colbert (the real one) put it, “We all saw this coming at us — you know like an old man cornering an intern in the break room. O’Reilly has been accused of sexual harassment for years.”
With Stewart gone from “The Daily Show,” new host Trevor Noah took a final jab at O’Reilly.
Noah commemorated O’Reilly’s time on cable news with a highlight reel featuring clips of his most bigoted, sexist statements like his belief that all young black men are coke dealers.
“Bill O’Reilly’s lucky that black people aren’t all the criminals he thinks they are,” Noah said. “Otherwise, that guy would have popped a cap in his ass.”
Jimmy Fallon of “The Tonight Show” also got in on the fun, ridiculing the former Fox News host for his meeting with the pope earlier that day while vacationing in Italy.
“O’Reilly actually met with Pope Francis at the Vatican,” Fallon said. “When he saw O’Reilly go into confession, the next guy in line said, ‘You know what, I’ll come back tomorrow. Is next week good?’”
