Offensive tweet launches #CancelColbert trend, but Stephen Colbert says he's not responsible

Comedian Stephen Colbert is the subject of a Twitter campaign to put him off the air after an offensive tweet, based on a joke from his program, was posted on a social media account linked to Comedy Central.

The satirist poked fun Wednesday night on his “Colbert Report” program at Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who recently created a charity aimed at Native Americans but won’t change his NFL team’s controversial name.

A tweet was posted on the @ColbertReport account just after 4 p.m. Thursday that contained a quote from the previous night’s show, but stripped of its context, the joke attempt offended many fans and others.

“I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever,” read the tweet, which has since been deleted.

By Thursday, the hashtag #FireColbert was trending, as Twitter users weighed in on the controversial comment.

#CancelColbert because white liberals are just as complicit in making Asian Americans into punchlines and we aren't amused.

— Suey Park (@suey_park) March 27, 2014

When satire becomes as offensive and hurtful as the thing satirized it is no longer satire. It is simply more injustice. #cancelcolbert

— Arlene Adamo (@ArleneAdamo) March 28, 2014

The way some white progressives are ridiculing our outrage shows why we're sick of such humor at our expense & how it hurts. #CancelColbert

— Josh Shahryar (@JShahryar) March 28, 2014

Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin helped spark the trend, posting a tweet "co-signing" the comment by @suey_park.

"I'm sick of liberals hiding behind assumed 'progressives,'" wrote Malkin, the author of "In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror."

Colbert responded to the uproar through his personal Twitter account, @StephenAtHome, saying that he had not written the offending post.

#CancelColbert - I agree! Just saw @ColbertReport tweet. I share your rage.

Who is that, though? I'm @StephenAtHome

https://t.co/e0Pqz7U7i9

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) March 28, 2014

The @ColbertReport account is controlled by Comedy Central, according to a tweet posted just before midnight Thursday, and is not controlled by Colbert or anyone from his program.

This is a Comedy Central account, with no oversight from Stephen/show. Here is quoted line in context https://t.co/UFnaFfOSpn#cancelcolbert

— The Colbert Report (@ColbertReport) March 28, 2014

Watch the offending joke, which is read at about the 10:00 mark, in an episode posted online by Hulu: