A statue depicting President Trump frolicking and holding hands with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (with whom he shares a long-documented connection) briefly appeared on the National Mall this week — but for Stephen Colbert, it wasn’t quite realistic enough.
During his monologue on Wednesday night, the CBS host applauded the placement and detail work of the statue, but had just a small bone to pick with the actual scene depicted.
“It’s a lovely piece, but I got to say, not very realistic. Trump can’t stand on one leg, not with those cankles!” Colbert joked. “It would be like trying to balance him on a sock full of overripe honeydew.”
The late night host then explained that the statue was placed in an entirely legal manner, as the creators actually obtained an official permit from the National Parks Service to display it and “demonstrate freedom of speech and artistic expression using political imagery.” Colbert applauded the organization for allowing it to happen, albeit with a caveat.
“Good for you, National Park Service, good for you! And thank you for protecting free speech for almost 24 hours,” he ribbed. “Because despite the fact that the permit allows the sculpture to stay up until Sunday, early this morning, the U.S. Park Police removed the statue.”
As the crowd booed and jeered, Colbert briefly paused, pretending he was canceling his Disney+ subscription, as many did in protest of ABC’s suspension of fellow late night host Jimmy Kimmel last week. The comedian then noted that Park Police explained the removal of the statue by saying it was not in compliance with the permit. But, they didn’t detail exactly how it wasn’t in compliance.
“I think we know how it violated the permit. We’ve all seen those signs in the national parks: ‘Leave no trace of the Epstein files,’” Colbert joked.
You can watch Stephen Colbert’s full CBS monologue in the video above.
