"Late Show" host Stephen Colbert issued what he mockingly called a "rare correkshun" after he was rebuked for his swipe towards Republican Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon," but he wasn't exactly contrite, proceeding to mock him anyway.
During Thursday night's show, Colbert told viewers he had a "weird day" when he saw his own name trend on Twitter. It was because the Detroit Free Press fact-checked his monologue last week when he accused Dixon of fabricating an interaction she had with a voter during a gubernatorial debate, claiming the voter told her he found sexually explicit material in a book from his son's school library.
That voter identified himself to the Free Press as Khalil Othman.
"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. "During a debate, she told a story that frankly I doubted."
The CBS star admitted "this very real person" deserved an apology and offered one, but then quickly mocked Othman for the comments he made to the Free Press.
"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," Colbert told Othman. "Therefore, I, Stephen Colbert, acknowledge that you exist and ask that you forgive me."
Colbert then knocked Othman for telling the Free Press that the host should have "Googled" him before assuming Dixon made him up since Othman's name is easy to find on social media.
"OK, fair enough. But I will point out that Dixon never said your name. So what am I supposed to search for?" Colbert asked Othman. "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."
"He said that should be enough. So let's Google some keywords from that sentence," Colbert quipped before pulling out a laptop to "Google" him.
Colbert acknowledged it was unclear what books Othman was upset about but found that at a local Michgan school board meeting, there were several books being objected to including "The Lovely Bones," "Push" by Sapphire and "All Boys Aren't Blue," which Colbert described as "pretty mainstream books."
"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. What a wonderful example for all of our children," Colbert mocked Othman.
"By the way, fella, if you didn't know that about Tudor Dixon before you supported her, you should Google it," he added.
Last week, Colbert pummeled Dixon for sounding the alarm during the Oct. 25 gubernatorial debate on "pornographic" material being found in school libraries across Michigan.
"Dixon's not the only one worried about this issue. So is this guy she totally made up," Colbert told his viewers at the time.
Colbert then played a clip of Dixon saying, "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.’"
"OK, fine, ‘that happened,’" Colbert quipped using air quotes.
Except that did happen, according to the Free Press.
"A Dearborn resident whose existence was doubted by comedian Stephen Colbert during a monologue last week has a message for the CBS late night host: I am real, and so is my switch to the Republican Party," Free Press reporter Niraj Warikoo wrote.
Othman, a father of five and a former Democratic candidate for state representative who migrated from Yemen nearly 20 years ago, had shared a video on Facebook of the comments he made at the Dixon event speaking out against sexually explicit content found in school libraries.
"I am a proud Muslim American who expresses my values and concerns all the time," Othman said in the video. "Dearborn has been voting Democrat blue for the last decade or two decades. But not anymore. On behalf of myself and my family, I guarantee you for sure that my family and my friends will vote for Republicans."
Dixon knocked Colbert's comments at an event on Sunday, telling supporters, "That's what he said, this story never happened. That's where the Democrats are right now. You don't exist, your stories are not important."
