--- title: Stephen Colbert Reminds Us That Not All Clowns are Pure Evil description: Stephen Coblert wants you to know that every clown stalks the streets terrifying children and adults canonical: https://time.com/4521148/stephen-colbert-clowns/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-06T17:14:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:23.308Z og:title: Stephen Colbert Reminds Us That Not All Clowns are Pure Evil og:description: #NotAllClowns og:url: https://time.com/4521148/stephen-colbert-clowns/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Colbert Reminds Us That Not All Clowns are Pure Evil twitter:description: #NotAllClowns twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Stephen Colbert Wants to Remind You That Not All Clowns are Evil by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 6, 2016 5:14 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 6, 2016 5:14 PM UTC [Clown hysteria](http://time.com/4518456/scary-clown-sighting-attack-craze/) is spreading fear after unsubstantiated reports, stirring a national phenomenon with reported sightings and now Stephen Colbert is weighing in. “Clowns are everywhere, and they’re terrorizing our local news anchors,” Stephen Colbert noted on Wednesday night’s _Late Show._ Colbert doesn’t want to simply warn upright citizens about the on-going [clown craze](http://time.com/4519937/clown-sightings-craze-south-carolina/?iid=sr-link5), but wants to remind you that not all clowns are frightening ghouls with bloodlust in their hearts. Some clowns are sad. Due to the spate of what Colbert called “insane posses” of clowns roaming the streets, professional clowns are now worried that they’ll be profiled for their chosen profession of making “children laugh and adults uncomfortable.” To help give clowns back “their dignity” Colbert released a public service announcement on behalf of true clowns everywhere. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4521148/stephen-colbert-clowns/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4521148/stephen-colbert-clowns/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Wants to Remind You That Not All Clowns are Evil","datePublished":"2016-10-06T17:14:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:23.308Z","description":"#NotAllClowns","url":"https://time.com/4521148/stephen-colbert-clowns/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","stephen colbert","clowns","late show with stephen colbert"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4521148/stephen-colbert-clowns/","name":"Stephen Colbert Wants to Remind You That Not All Clowns are Evil"}}]}] ```