Stephen Colbert draws a red line at Donald Trump calling Meryl Streep 'over-rated'

Stephen Colbert mocks Donald Trump for Meryl Streep tweets

(Image credit: Late Show)

published 10 January 2017

Stephen Colbert kicked off Monday's Late Show by talking about Sunday's Golden Globes, briefly touching on the "Hidden Fences" flap before getting to the topic everyone couldn't not talk about on Monday. "The real star of the night — and every night, in my opinion — was Meryl Streep," Colbert said, getting a rousing ovation from the audience (and maybe not for her acting skills). Streep criticized Donald Trump's mockery of a disabled reporter in an acceptance speech, but "of course, the president-elect, Trump, was too focused on defeating ISIS and creating jobs to pick a fight with a celebrity," Colbert said, adding, "Just kidding."

Trump tweeted Monday morning that Streep is an "over-rated" actress, and Colbert put his foot down: "Look, Mr. Trump, you can refuse to release your taxes, you can call to ban an entire religion, you can play footsie with a dictator, but calling Meryl Streep overrated? No, no, too far." He mocked the defense of Trump's tweet from Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, who advised people to ignore Trump's words and focus on what's in his heart, then shifted to the report on Russian hacking from the FBI, CIA, and NSA.

The report found that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered hacking of Democrats in order to help Trump and embarrass the U.S. for preaching democracy and failing to practice it. "Hey, Putin, we don't need any help looking hypocritical, okay?" Colbert said. "We're the country that invented both chili cheese fries and open-heart surgery. We've got this one." In any case, after getting briefed on the report, Trump finally accepted that Russia hacked the election — and he promptly blamed Democrats for letting themselves get hacked. "He went on to say that all bank robberies are the bank's fault," Colbert said, "and if people didn't want to get stabbed, why does their rib cage make such a sturdy knife holder?" Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.