Stephen Colbert won't be fined over controversial Trump joke


A controversial quip Stephen Colbert made on the May 1 Late Show was not so obscene that it warranted a fine, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday.
During his opening monologue, Colbert joked that "the only thing [Trump's] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's cock holster." Colbert's mouth was blurred and his words were bleeped out of the broadcast, but, Variety reports, the FCC was still flooded with thousands of complaints — some saying he was disrespectful of the president, others arguing it was a homophobic remark.
The FCC investigates all complaints, and when asked for an update, the commission said in a statement that "consistent with standard operating procedure, the FCC's Enforcement Bureau has reviewed the complaints and the material that was the subject of these complaints. The bureau has concluded that there was nothing actionable under the FCC's rules."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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