October 06, 2017
Colbert and Kimmel mocked the president, while Corden took jabs at VP Mike Pence as they all commented on the NBC News story that Trump and the secretary of state vehemently denied on Wednesday.
Late-night hosts took time during their Wednesday night opening monologues to address the NBC News report that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the president a "moron" this past summer and Vice President Mike Pence had to convince him not to resign.
Following a series of tweets from the president debunking the report, a press conference was held in which Tillerson denied that he considered leaving his position. Taking jabs at the controversy, late-night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, James Corden, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers spoke out about the allegations.
Colbert was quick to quip about the alleged term Tillerson reportedly used. "Nobody calls our president a moron, except me," Colbert said.
Commenting on how the controversy arrives in the midst of the Las Vegas shooting, Colbert ridiculed Trump for tweeting continuously about the "fake news" story. "In times of trouble, Donald Trump is always there for himself," Colbert joked.
Further elaborating, the late-night host began to imitate Trump and provide reasoning as to why he pays attention to rumors. "Thoughts and prayers to the black hole in my heart that will never be filled and is the shape of my daddy," Colbert mocked as he explained that he was elaborating on "the theory being that his father did not love him when he was younger and we're paying the price."
After watching Tillerson deny reports that he considered leaving the post, Colbert rebutted, "Considered leaving this post? No. Dreamt about it? Yes. Fantasized about it while pleasuring myself in an overstuffed chair? No comment."
With Tillerson avoiding answering whether he used a particular word against the president, Colbert seemed assured the secretary of state used more explicit terminology. "He called him a fucking moron. I never thought I'd say this but, secretary of states are just like us."
Kimmel also took jabs at the president's comments while reading a timeline of his tweets regarding the NBC reports. "You can see he was laser focused on the people of Las Vegas," Kimmel said.
Offering his perspective on Tillerson's denial about quitting, Kimmel poked fun at Ben Carson: "If you work in the Trump White House and you haven't considered leaving, you're either asleep or you're Ben Carson."
Kimmel concluded his monologue with a mock press conference in which officials continued to deny Tillerson's "moron" comment, as well as using other terms such as "idiot," "bonehead," "imbecile," "empty jack-o-latern," "sun-tanned ham loaf," "so stupid he got his hair stuck in a cotton candy machine and called it a hairstyle" and "racist sweet potato."
Corden also shared some quips about the controversy but focused his attention on Pence. And rather than refer to Tillerson as the secretary of state, Corden joked that after Tillerson's "moron" comment, he was "secretary of stating the obvious."
"Now Tillerson, you may recall, is the former CEO of Exxon Mobile, so he's used to pretending that nothing is wrong after a damaging toxic leak," Corden joked.
Commenting on Tillerson's response when asked if he used the term "moron," Corden explained that his subtle answer proved admission. "That's basically an admission of guilt in any situation," Corden said, further elaborating, "If someone goes 'Did did you fart in this elevator?' and you respond, 'I'm not going to deal with petty stuff like that.' You did it! It was you."
Corden then explained the reasons why Pence succeeded in keeping Tillerson.
"I get it. How could you say no to Pence? Look at how passionate and charismatic he is," Corden said as he showed a photograph of Pence's portrait.
After explaining that the photo failed to show how passionate he is, Corden then offered an image of Pence to show how "emotional" he looks. "No, that's a bad photo. Look at his face here," Corden said as a photograph of a broom appeared onscreen.
Like Corden, Fallon took a jab at Pence's "pep talk" to Tillerson, saying, "Nothing screams pep like a talk from Mike Pence."
After explaining that Tillerson referred to Trump as "smart" in Wednesday's press conference, Fallon joked, "Then he said, 'Do you think the moron bought it?'"
Meyers, meanwhile, quipped about White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, stating that Trump still has "confidence" in Tillerson despite reports.
"There you go, Rex. Trump has full confidence in you, and you're in good company," Meyers joked as he showed clips of Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway saying that Trump has full confidence in former FBI Director James Comey and Michael Flynn, both of whom later left their posts.