Stephen Colbert Tears Into CNN, MSNBC Hosts for “Panning” Mueller: They’re Only Focused on “Ratings”

Stephen Colbert is an equal opportunity comic: if you say something stupid, he’s going to drag you, no matter your politics. On Thursday night, The Late Show host proved just that when he took multiple jabs at The New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC for treating the Mueller hearings like entertainment. Colbert slammed the talking heads for “panning Mueller’s performance” during Wednesday’s testimony, and he roasted them for focusing on “ratings” rather than substance during this “critical moment in our democracy.” Said the host, “You can’t determine the value of Mueller’s testimony by ratings!”

For the second night in a row, Colbert devoted his opening monologue to Robert Mueller’s testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. “At the hearings, Mueller confirmed that the president of the United States was not totally exonerated,” said Colbert, breaking out his Trump impression. “Mueller also agreed that Trump obstructed the investigation multiple times, Russia tampered with the election in Trump’s favor. And that the president welcomed that help, lied about welcoming it, and encouraged others to lie about it.”

“In short: BORING!” he yelled. “I assume it must have been because the critics have decided. And they’re panning Mueller’s performance.” Colbert brought up headlines from The New York Times and the AP about the Mueller hearings being “less than compelling TV drama” (AP), before adding, “And he’s only got 35% on Rotten Tomatoes.”

When it comes to “the TV people,” he argued, the reaction was even worse. After playing clips of CNN’s Jake Tapper, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and more cable news hosts all dragging Mueller (“He persistently seemed old,” said Maddow), Colbert dove in. “If we learned one thing from watching movies like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, it’s that we should always ignore the dire warnings of the old guy,” he joked. “This is a critical moment in our democracy. So of course, our faithful journalists are focused on what really matters. And that’s ratings, baby!”

“You can’t determine the value of Mueller’s testimony by ratings!” he said after playing a clip of CNN’s Brian Stelter calling the Mueller hearing “a dud” in key viewer demographics. “If that were the case, then Avengers: Endgame would be president of the United States!” joked Colbert. Actually, that wouldn’t be so bad: “At least Thanos cares about the environment. He’s got some plan,” said the Late Show host.

“I don’t want a government that cares about ratings because we already have that with Donald Trump,” concluded Colbert. “Robert Mueller didn’t come to Congress to entertain us.”

Watch Colbert take down the “faithful journalists” of CNN and MSNBC in the clip above.

Where to stream The Late Show with Stephen Colbert