--- ---  # The FCC Is Investigating Stephen Colbert's Joke About President Trump by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 5, 2017 10:40 PM UTC  NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22: Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network. NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22: Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network.CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 5, 2017 10:40 PM UTC The [Federal Communications Commission](http://time.com/4733531/fcc-phone-calls-planes/) is investigating Stephen Colbert’s [controversial joke about President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4764759/colbert-gay-trump/), according to the chairman of the agency. Ajit Pai said on Thursday that the FCC has received “number of complaints” following Colbert’s joke earlier this week and that the agency plans to review it within the context of Supreme Court laws, [Talk Radio 1210 WPHT reports.](http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/05/04/fcc-colbert-joke-trump-putin/) “I have had a chance to see the clip now and so, as we get complaints, and we’ve gotten a number of them, we are going to take the facts that we find and we are going to apply the law as it’s been set out by the Supreme Court and other courts and we’ll take the appropriate action,” Pai told radio host Rich Zeoli. “We have received a number of complaints, as I said, and we’ll follow the standard operating procedures, as we always do, and make sure we evaluate what the facts are and apply the law fairly and fully,” Pai added. The chairman said that if Colbert’s rant is found to be in violation, the most common penalty for such cases is a “fine, of some sort.” Colbert, who hosts the _Late Show_ on CBS, unleashed a flurry of insults on Trump in the wake of the his [interview on _Face the Nation_](http://time.com/4762967/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-john-dickerson/) over the weekend. “The only thing your mouth is good at is being Vladimir Putin’s c—k holster,” Colbert said of Trump. The late night host [defended his comments](http://time.com/4766399/stephen-colbert-trump-insults/) Wednesday after a #FireColbert hashtag began trending across social media. “I don’t regret that,” Colbert said. “\[Trump\], I believe, can take care of himself. I have jokes; he has the launch codes. So, it’s a fair fight.” Stephen Colbert Joke About Trump Under FCC Investigation ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4769648/fcc-investigating-stephen-colbert-donald-trump-joke/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4769648/fcc-investigating-stephen-colbert-donald-trump-joke/"},"headline":"The FCC Is Investigating Stephen Colbert's Joke About President Trump","datePublished":"2017-05-05T22:40:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:47:18.229Z","description":"The agency says it has received a \"number of complaints\"","url":"https://time.com/4769648/fcc-investigating-stephen-colbert-donald-trump-joke/","keywords":["Television","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc271b857cb7eb30/6988c2ae8e06019cd4469ee3/colbert-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc271b857cb7eb30/6988c2ae8e06019cd4469ee3/colbert-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","caption":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4769648/fcc-investigating-stephen-colbert-donald-trump-joke/","name":"The FCC Is Investigating Stephen Colbert's Joke About President Trump"}}]}] ```