Stephen Colbert took aim at Karoline Leavitt after a wire service took down an unflattering photo of the press secretary following White House complaints.
Specifically, during Wednesday’s monologue for “The Late Show,” the comedian pulled quite the prank on the Trump staffer for April Fools’ Day, as he projected an unfortunate image of Leavitt onto the dome of the Ed Sullivan Theater.
However, before blasting out the image for his studio audience to take in, Colbert feigned empathy for Leavitt over the picture, noting the “angle is not good for anybody.”
“There’s a new controversy from the White House and it’s extra crispy stupid,” Colbert explained. “[At] Thanksgiving, they did their annual turkey pardoning and they took some photos like they always do. It was barely news at the time, and it wouldn’t be news now if it weren’t for the fact that a wire service removed a photo of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt because it was reportedly unflattering.”
He continued: “Okay, admittedly not a great angle for her or the turkey. Or, really, that angle is not good for anybody.”
Colbert then recreated the unfortunate angle, joking, “That’s why this guy always shoots me from the top a little bit.”
Yet, the late night host didn’t feel too badly for Leavitt, as he felt that was a price she paid for being “photographed all the time.”
“Things didn’t get weird until shortly after the photo was released,” Colbert continued. “When the image was scrubbed from the Getty Images Library. Now, while the photo company claims that they weren’t directly ordered to remove the picture, they were made aware the White House did not approve.”
At this moment, Colbert quipped that the White House “pulled a mother-in-law” over the image, suggesting they passive aggressively influenced the take down of the photo.
“Bottom line, the administration does not want you to see that photo. Which photo, you ask? This photo right here,” Colbert said before putting the image up on his screen. “And if any of the people here in the Ed Sullivan Theater can’t see the screens, we went ahead and put it up in the dome.”
Before concluding his monologue, Colbert joked, “Remember everybody, on your honor, do not look.”
Watch Colbert’s full monologue above.
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
