The crossover that no one asked for came together on Tuesday as CBS’s host of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert, joined The New Yorker editor and NPR host David Remnick for a New York Public Radio fundraiser for an exercise in mutual back patting in the aftermath of Colbert’s cancellation and public media’s defunding.
Deadline’s Jill Goldsmith reports that early on in their relationship, Colbert and his wife Evelyn previously fretted over which one of them would have to give up their precious public radio outlet, with Colbert claiming he “defended WBEZ Chicago to the best of my ability. A very reputable station. It was actually a source of some tension.”
As it turned out, Evelyn eventually prevailed, and the Colberts moved to New York, which meant WNYC won out, which didn’t seem to bother Colbert in the long run, “WNYC got you going in the morning with all the information and all the culture and all the things you needed to know about New York and our country … And, at the end of a long day, WQXR was there like a frosty mug of Xanax to calm you down.”
Evelyn also praised the network, claiming they “actually scheduled our days around WNYC. Stephen even taped a printout of the WNYC schedule to the back of our kitchen cabinet. And when we went to move our Honda Accord for alternate side of the street parking, we desperately tried to fit it between Morning Edition and Brian Lehrer, which was really stressful.”
Back in October, The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin reported the fundraiser marked the debut of a new WNYC tagline, “You can’t defund the truth.”
The partnership between liberal comedians and liberal public broadcasting was made more clear when it was Remnick’s turn to speak. Goldsmith quotes him as saying:
‘We live in a dark time, a threatening time,’ Remnick said. When Vladimir Putin came to office in Russia, ‘they came after the comedians.’
‘They shut down a show called Kukly, a funny, political satirical show, and Putin first revealed his face by showing that he could not laugh at himself. This must sound quite familiar. It was not long after that, radio stations, television stations, newspapers and eventually, internet outlets began feeling not only the pressure, but were shut down,’ he said. ‘We cannot kid ourselves about the era that we are living in. This is a test.’
Somehow, things got even dumber from there. New York Public Radio Executive Chair LaFontaine Oliver huffed:
Make no mistake, the elimination of federal funding was absolutely meant to bring about an ending. The end of unbiased journalism without fear or favor. The end of independent voices who raise a mirror so that we can see ourselves more clearly. And the end of mission driven institutions and individuals who work to protect and advance human dignity.
But if you’ve been listening to the radio lately, you know what how we feel about that. You can defund public media, you can cancel grants, you can zero out the line item. You can shut down CPB. But you can’t defund the truth.
Colbert’s attempt to help fundraise on behalf of public media comes only two days after fellow comedy host John Oliver announced an auction to help fund such outlets. However, if New York Public Radio can enlist Colbert to help raise money and Oliver can sell a $10,000 three-year-old cabbage, then maybe conservatives were right that liberal public media does not need taxpayer money.
