Stephen Colbert tackles the sexual misconduct allegations against his boss, Les Moonves, recaps Rudy Giuliani's insane media blitz

Stephen Colbert on the allegations against Les Moonves, his boss

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

published 31 July 2018

Stephen Colbert began Monday's Late Show by noting he was offline in South Carolina last weekend, "but I heard that there was an article about CBS chairman and man I hope isn't watching tonight's monologue Les Moonves." He made a show of learning the article was by Ronan Farrow, prompting him to spit out his coffee and pick up a glass of whisky. "Ronan isn't exactly known for his puff pieces about glamping," he explained. "Okay, well, I guess we're talking about this." CBS's board decided Monday afternoon to hire an outside firm to investigate allegations that Colbert's boss sexually harassed six women. "I don't know why they're outsourcing this," he joked, darkly. "They could just use the cast of the new CBS procedural, CSI: CEO."

Colbert promised to return to the topic later, "assuming we make it past the commercial break," then shifted gears to "allegations against somebody I don't work for," Kimberly Guilfoyle at Fox News. "So that's where we're at," he said. "The best news of the day is that women can also be guilty of sexual harassment." The details of that story are really ... something.

Colbert turned to the allegations from President Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen that Trump knew about and green-lighted a Trump Tower meeting where Russian officials offered his campaign chiefs and son dirt about Hillary Clinton. Of course Trump knew, Colbert said, but "this is still a big deal — this is the whole ball of wax. Because that is knowingly receiving help from a hostile foreign power to influence our election." To clean that up, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani went on TV Monday, and that's when things got really nuts — among other things, Guilani revealed there was a third, previously secret meeting. "He's just giving away damaging information," Colbert gawked. "He's gonna be the first lawyer in history to have to treat himself as a hostile witness." Watch below. Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

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.