Stephen Colbert Destroys His Show's Twitter Account After Controversy




UPDATED 04/01/2014 at 02:55 PM EDT Originally published 04/01/2014 at 01:00 PM EDT




Stephen Colbert Destroys His Show's Twitter Account After Controversy


Stephen Colbert


Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage



Forget simply pressing delete. Embattled late night host Stephen Colbert went to much more dramatic measures to blow up the Twitter account that sparked last week's #CancelColbert social media movement.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone appeared on The Colbert Report Monday night and channeled Wile E. Coyote as he helped destroy the @ColbertReport Twitter handle for the Comedy Central host.


Colbert's virtual nightmare began Thursday when a Tweet originating from @ColbertReport – a promotional account for the show – angered many in the Asian-American community and prompted the hashtag that trended on Twitter late last week into the weekend.


The offending Tweet was intended to reference a joke Colbert made on the show Wednesday evening, which poked fun at Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder for creating a foundation supporting Native Americans only after receiving criticism for the team name. Colbert then joked that he was creating an organization for Asian Americans with a title mimicking the one the Redskins created.


However, Thursday's Tweet, which Colbert said he did not write or sanction, did not mention the original joke or provide a video link, prompting many to believe Colbert had simply Tweeted a racist joke.


"Who would have thought a means of communication limited to 140 characters would ever create misunderstandings," he quipped on his show Monday, pointing out that his Tweets come from @StephenatHome.


Yet the host seemed to offer a sincere mea culpa in between his humorous defense.


"I never want this to happen again," he said.







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