Stephen Colbert mocked Fox News for a misstep covering Donald Trump at a dignified transfer, saying its viewers are “trained” to “notice subtle differences.”
The comedian weighed in on the drama during Monday night’s monologue for “The Late Show,” where he blasted not only the president for wearing a hat during a dignified transfer, but also Fox News for its suspected attempt to cover up the faux pas.
“Trump put his disregard for human life on full display Saturday during the first dignified transfer of soldiers killed in the line of duty in his new war,” Colbert sounded off. “Now, this is one of the most solemn things a commander-in-chief could do, which is why some people were shocked that Trump never took off his branded golf hat. Wearing a novelty golf hat to a dignified transfer is like wearing a coconut bra to give a eulogy. ‘I think we’re all going to miss Doug. I remember when we used to go horseback riding together, it it sounded like this.’”
He continued: “If you thought the golf hat was inappropriate, you’re not alone. So did Fox News, clearly because instead of showing Trump in his stupid hat, they aired footage from last year when Trump went hatless. They just ran old footage. What are you doing, Fox News? You can’t trick your audience. You’ve trained them for years to notice subtle differences. I mean, they’re the only people who can tell that these are different women.”
At this moment, Colbert cut to a number of different headshots, each featuring a blonde newscaster employeed by Fox News. Watch Colbert’s full monologue below.
Colbert’s criticism came after “Fox & Friends” apologized Sunday for airing 2025 footage of Trump and presenting it as if it were from the recent dignified transfer of six service members killed in Kuwait.
“Before we move on we want to acknowledge a mistake made earlier on our program during our coverage of yesterday’s dignified transfer,” the network explained. “We inadvertently aired video from an older dignified transfer instead of the ceremony that took place yesterday. We deeply regret the error and extend our respective condolences to the service members families. We honor the sacrifice of those six American heroes.”
In a statement shared with TheWrap, a spokesperson for the Fox News Media expressed a similar sentiment, noting, “FOX News Media programs inadvertently aired file footage from a previous dignified transfer while discussing yesterday’s ceremony at Dover Air Force Base. The archival footage was mistakenly used during the video sourcing process. We regret the error and apologize for the incorrect footage.”
Despite the apology, the on-air mixup sparked quite a bit of backlash online, including from journalist Mehdi Hasan, who wrote on X at the time, “If any other network did this it would be a huge scandal, Fox would lead the chorus of criticisms and faux-outrage, and people would lose their jobs. But not at Fox. It’s not a news network. It’s a state propaganda channel.”
