Stephen Colbert addressed the “horrible” Malaysia Airlines crash in Ukraine on Thursday’s “Colbert Report,” and did not want to risk joking about it. At first, at least.
“Ladies and gentlemen, before we get started, I just wanted to address a horrible tragedy in the Ukraine,” Colbert said at the start of the Comedy Central program. “Earlier today a Malaysian Airlines flight carrying 295 passengers and crew crashed, apparently brought down by a missile. It’s an unthinkable loss and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the senseless act.”
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Colbert broke into his usual song and dance when discussing Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, but admitted a lack of information on both developing stories.
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“I tape this show earlier in the evening, so we don’t have a lot of information on these stories, but we will have complete coverage of both of these stories on tomorrow night’s show,” Colbert said to set up his punchline. “And i’m being told we do not have a show on Friday nights. Oh, thank God. Those are really depressing.”