Stephen Colbert Feels Conflicted Covering Dead Dog Scandal: ‘Unlike Kristi Noem, I Don’t Like Beating a Dead Horse’ | Video

The CBS host also mocks the governor’s defense that she’s been around “hundreds” of dogs — “It used to be thousands”

Stephen Colbert isn’t laying off when it comes to Kristi Noem, the U.S. governor and vice president hopeful who’s currently under fire for shooting one of her dogs and a goat. However, the CBS host is at least going to pretend to be conflicted about it.

“We here at team ‘Late Show’ have been following the tragic career suicide of South Dakota governor and Talbots mannequin you swear just blinked, Kristi Noem,” Colbert said Thursday night. Noem’s name earned a chorus of boos from the in-studio audience. “I’ll be honest, I was conflicted about whether or not I should keep talking about it because, unlike Kristi Noem, I don’t like beating a dead horse.”

Colbert then played a clip of Noem on Fox News clarifying that the dog wasn’t a puppy, but a “working dog.”

“That’s right, an important distinction. It was a working dog. So Noem did not shoot her puppy. She shot her employee,” he quipped.

The late night host then played one final segment from Noem’s Fox News interview. “I’m a dog lover. I’ve trained dogs for years. I’ve been around hundreds of them, of course,” she said.

“Although before she got there, it used to be thousands,” Colbert joked.

Noem previously admitted to killing her 14-month-old dog, a wirehaired pointer named Cricket. The decision came after the dog ruined a pheasant hunt, almost bit Noem and killed a neighbor’s chickens. As she wrote in her book, Cricket was “untrainable,” “dangerous” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog.” “I hated that dog,” Noem added.

The controversial story appears in Noem’s upcoming book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward.” The death was supposed to be used as an example of the hard decisions Noem is willing to make for what she sees as the greater good, both in her personal life and in politics. But the story has massively backfired for her.

After being toted as a possible VP candidate for Trump, she is now best known for killing her dog.

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