Stephen Colbert had the perfect perch from which to defend speech over the past decade.
Not only did the far-left comic have oodles of material, he hosted a late-night show where he could riff on any topic imaginable.
Airline food. Movie sequels. Online dating.
Or the incessant attacks on speech conducted by his fellow leftists. The Twitter Files? Dave Chappelle's career hanging by a thread after telling some trans-centric jokes? Other comics self-censoring for fear of professional blowback?
What about the war on author J.K. Rowling for holding views on the trans agenda that match the majority of people? Rowling has endured endless death threats as a result.
Colbert stayed mum on it all. Instead, he attacked Orange Bad Man on autopilot until his final show earlier this year.
It's actually worse than that.
Colbert chuckled when the woke mob came for select targets. Remember his glee when said mob came for Dr. Seuss? He could have mocked the snowflakes who shamed and silenced the beloved children's author. Instead, he cheered them on.
And when President Donald Trump got banned by social media platforms, Colbert all but waved pom-poms over the ruling.
We'd say it's the most pathetic element of his late-show legacy, but his dancing COVID-10 vaccines shtick is hard to beat on that front.
Still, a good rule of thumb when it comes to censorious mobs remains true. You ignore them at your own peril. AKA, you'll be censored, too, sooner than later.
Welcome to "sooner."
Colbert was slated to speak at Harvard University November 5 along with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The problem? Their appearance didn't sit well with the Harvard Graduate Student Union, currently on strike. The group demanded the pair cancel their appearance to join their cause.
Or else? After all, Colbert had honored the 2023 Hollywood writers strike. Surely he would do the same for Team Harvard.
Nope. And when Colbert didn't, the union types shouted their displeasure outside the venue, hoping to drown out their voices. They banged on drums and set off air horns to silence Colbert and co. And it mostly worked.
Other college speakers have faced similar efforts to silence them over the years. Sense a pattern?
The show kept going despite the protests until someone pulled the fire alarm roughly 40 minutes into the program. That brought the evening to an end. The union claimed its members had no role in the fire alarm debacle.
Sure, Jan?
Either way, Colbert got cancelled at a prestigious university, much like too many conservative speakers have faced over the past 10-15 years. Funny that Colbert never stood up for those speakers and, now, he got a taste of what they endured.
Not "ha-ha" funny but funny nonetheless.
Would Colbert have brought up the subject had he still hosted a late-night talk show? Maybe. No matter. He reportedly cost CBS $40 million a year for the pleasure of hosting his far-Left monologues.
Now, that's no longer an option for him.
Will he learn a lesson about speech in the modern era? If past is prologue, it's doubtful.
