--- title: Texas Church Shooting: Stephen Colbert Responds With Plea description: Late Show host Stephen Colbert told viewers they shouldn't feel hopeless or powerless after the shooting in Texas that killed 26 people canonical: https://time.com/5013110/stephen-colbert-texas-church-shooting/ author: Jennifer Calfas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-07T15:22:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:31.297Z og:title: Stephen Colbert Responds With Passionate Plea After Texas Shooting og:description: He refuses to accept people "doing nothing" og:url: https://time.com/5013110/stephen-colbert-texas-church-shooting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9528cdff257a930a/6988e4e0656a3f878cbd260a/stephen-colbert.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: Stephen Colbert Responds With Passionate Plea After Texas Shooting twitter:description: He refuses to accept people "doing nothing" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9528cdff257a930a/6988e4e0656a3f878cbd260a/stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert Refuses to Accept People 'Doing Nothing' After to the Texas Shooting > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=9d8f183e-28bb-4abf-8f0b-0bb24764e629&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Nov 7, 2017 3:22 PM UTC  The Late Show with Stephen Colbert during Monday's June 26, 2017 show. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert during Monday's June 26, 2017 show. CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Nov 7, 2017 3:22 PM UTC As late-night hosts [have done so often](http://time.com/4966557/late-night-gun-control-las-vegas-attack/) due to repeated mass shootings in the United States, [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/5005118/stephen-colbert-nyc-terror-attack-video/) took aim at inaction in America after [a gunman](http://time.com/5010945/devin-kelley/) [killed 26 people and injured 20 others](http://time.com/5010967/texas-church-shooting-victims/) at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Sunday. The _Late Show_ comedian took on a serious tone yet again Monday evening as he told viewers he did not have “the slightest idea of how to adequately address the attack in Sutherland Springs, Texas.” But the comedian found his words quickly as lamented how “nothing gets done” and “no one does anything” after these mass shootings. “And that seems insane,” Colbert said. “And it can make you feel hopeless.” “Doing nothing, as I’ve said before, is unacceptable,” Colbert said. “But it’s unnatural. It’s inhuman. It goes against our nature. We want to fix things. You want to respond to something terrible like this. Not just now, but anytime in human history.” “Five thousand years ago, if your village had a tiger coming into it everyday and was eating people, you wouldn’t do nothing,” he continued. “You would move the village, you would build a fence, or you would kill the tiger. You wouldn’t say ‘Well, I guess, someone’s going to get eaten everyday because the price of liberty is tigers.’ You take some action.” Colbert went on to tell his viewers that they cannot give in to the hopelessness and powerlessness that they feel — as it feeds into “a vicious cycle.” “I actually think that there are some people out there — some truly evil people out there — who want you to feel powerless just for a buck, because if you feel powerless enough, you know what might make you feel more powerful? Going to buy a gun,” Colbert said. “It’s a vicious cycle.” But rather than doing that, Colbert offered a solution: go vote. “Vote for someone who will do something, because this is an act of evil and the only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.” Watch the full clip above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5013110/stephen-colbert-texas-church-shooting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5013110/stephen-colbert-texas-church-shooting/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Refuses to Accept People 'Doing Nothing' After to the Texas Shooting","datePublished":"2017-11-07T15:22:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:31.297Z","description":"Colbert encouraged his viewers to go vote","url":"https://time.com/5013110/stephen-colbert-texas-church-shooting/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Late Night Television","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9528cdff257a930a/6988e4e0656a3f878cbd260a/stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Calfas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9528cdff257a930a/6988e4e0656a3f878cbd260a/stephen-colbert.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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5013110/stephen-colbert-texas-church-shooting/","name":"Stephen Colbert Refuses to Accept People 'Doing Nothing' After to the Texas Shooting"}}]}] ```