--- title: Late Night Television Hosts React to Charlottesville description: Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel each had their own takes on the events in Charlottesville. canonical: https://time.com/4901151/late-night-charlottesville/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-15T15:15:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:28:57.838Z og:title: Here's How Late Night Hosts Reacted to Charlottesville og:description: Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel each had their own takes og:url: https://time.com/4901151/late-night-charlottesville/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96ba68348198b183/6988d8ed196cf4643f0415f3/stephen-colbert-north-korea-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Late Night Hosts Reacted to Charlottesville twitter:description: Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel each had their own takes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96ba68348198b183/6988d8ed196cf4643f0415f3/stephen-colbert-north-korea-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Late Night Hosts Reacted to Charlottesville > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e5d2f9ef-08a3-4ccb-81cd-837e1416e30a&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why President Trump Struggled After Charlottesville [Watch (HLS stream): Why President Trump Struggled After Charlottesville](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1JYDMRuQ.m3u8) (2:07)  _Published 2017-08-14. President Trump has strong words for a lot of people he disagrees with, but not always._  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 15, 2017 3:15 PM UTC President Trump has strong words for a lot of people he disagrees with, but not always.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 15, 2017 3:15 PM UTC The tragic [events in Charlottesville](http://time.com/4901006/donald-trump-charlottesville-trump-tower-protests/) have dominated news, and late night television’s hosts each had their own ways to respond to the latest strife riling the U.S. Jimmy Fallon hosted British actor[ Riz Ahmed](http://time.com/4746022/riz-ahmed-time-100-video/) of _The Night Of_ and _Rogue One_ fame, but Ahmed has another talent: he’s one half of the rap group Swet Shop Boys, and shared one of his own songs for the studio audience. “I wrote this piece ten years ago, and every year I keep hoping it will become irrelevant, but it keeps becoming more and more relevant, sadly,” he told Fallon before launching into a minimalist spoken-word version of the track. “In these sour times, please allow me to vouch for mine. Bitter taste in my mouth, spit it out with a rhyme. I’m losing my religion to tomorrow’s headlines.” [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/4896197/anthony-scaramucci-stephen-colbert/), meanwhile, decided to take President Trump to task. “It is difficult to express how heartbreaking it is to see something like this happening in our country,” he admitted in his introductory monologue. “But here’s something that’s not difficult to express: Nazis are bad. The KKK? I’m not a fan. That wasn’t hard. That was easy.” Colbert then called out Trump for his [delayed](http://time.com/4899810/donald-trump-charlottesville/) condemnation of hate groups. “If only the president was as mad about neo-Nazis murdering people on the streets as he’s been about Hillary Clinton, the New York Times, CNN, Joe Scarborough, Kristen Stewart, the cast of _Hamilton_, Diet Coke, Nordstrom’s not selling his daughter’s clothes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the mayor of London Sadiq Khan, me, the state of New Hampshire, gold star families, Penn Jillette’s Las Vegas show, the movie _Django Unchained_, Meryl Streep, and lady Ghostbusters,” he listed. > [](https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/897269195485831168) And [Jimmy Kimmel](http://time.com/4893267/jimmy-kimmel-where-is-north-korea/)? He laid into Trump for his vague response as well, in which the president condemned actions on “many sides.” “There were two sides, not ‘many sides,'” Kimmel said. “And one of those sides had Nazis on it. All he had to do was condemn the Nazis. It shouldn’t have been a difficult thing. It’s not exactly a controversial stance. Not like we asked him to come out against puppies or something.” He then added: “If there’s any silver lining to this — and there isn’t — it’s that whatever vacation he was hoping to have, it’s now ruined.” Fallon, Kimmel, and Colbert compete against one another in a race for ratings and viewers, but on this subject, they all certainly have found common ground. ## Transcript President Trump has strong words for a lot of people he disagrees with. When Mexico send it's people, they're not sending their best. And the name of the problem, radical, Islamic, terrorism. But not always. During the 2016 campaign, Trump was conspicuously slow to disavow an endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. How do you feel about the Recent endorsement from David Duke? I didn't even know he endorsed me. David Duke endorsed me? Okay, all right. I disavow, okay? Critics said Trump's eventual condemnation of Duke was too muted. Well, just You understand. I don't know anything about David Duke. Okay? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don't know. I mean, how many times are you supposed to disavow? But I disavow Trump struggled again in the wake of a rally by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia that turned violent, leaving a counterprotester dead. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides. Critics charged that Trump's 'many sides' comment appeared to equate white nationalists with the people counter- protesting against them. I've already spent enough time talking about Donald Trump, he is our president with respect. He had his moment, I mean, these are times Leadership. He kind of had his opportunity and he whiffed and i think that speaks for itself. Two days later, Trump revisited the topic in brief remarks from the White House. Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo- Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups That are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans. But the damage had been done. In the wake of Trump's comments over the weekend, the CEO of Merck resigned from a White House advisory council. And this And this time, Trump had strong words. 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