CBS’s host of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert, and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel lamented that the Justice Department is “investigating the victims” of the Minneapolis shooting involving Renee Good and ICE agent Jonathan Ross. However, neither host provided their audience with the key detail that Good’s wife, Rebecca, told her to “drive, baby, drive” after Good herself was told to get out of the car.
Colbert certainly wasn’t interested in narratively inconvenient facts when he huffed, “Now, it’s not just a surge of goons. In order to justify the unjustifiable gunning down of an American citizen in her car, the Trump administration is trying to smear Renee Good's family now. Reportedly, senior Justice Department officials have pressed for a criminal investigation into Good's widow, which today prompted both six federal prosecutors in Minnesota to resign and the resignation of five senior prosecutors in the criminal section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.”
As the audience applauded the resignations, Colbert mourned, “Good for them. But this story is so awful that even their principled stand doesn't make me feel better. And I'm not sure if there's anything that could.”
Colbert then replayed a clip he played not long before of an ICE agent slipping and falling on the ice in Minnesota and quipped, “Helps a little. Just a little.”
Over at ABC, Kimmel sang a similar song, “First they want us to believe that we did not see what we saw happen to Renee Good. Now, he wants us to believe the protests aren't real. It's like the emperor's new clothes in reverse. He's telling us we're the ones who are naked while they do their best to cover everything up.”
Kimmel, who claims his monologues go through a thorough fact-checking process, not only omitted Rebecca’s role in urging Good to not get out of the car and drive away but also falsely added that Rebecca was in the car at the moment of the shooting, “Not only has the Trump administration iced local authorities out of the FBI's investigation into the killing of Renee Good, six senior prosecutors in Minnesota just stepped down today after being pressured by the Justice Department to investigate Renee Good's widow, who was a passenger in the car when she was shot. They're investigating the victims instead of the perpetrator.”
Whether Rebecca’s actions justify an indictment is something for prosecutors to determine, but just because Colbert and Kimmel call themselves comedians does not mean they are exempt from the journalistic standard of providing their audience with all the relevant information, especially in a hotly contested issue such as this.
Here are transcripts for the January 13 shows:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
1/13/2026
11:41 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Now, it’s not just a surge of goons. In order to justify the unjustifiable gunning down of an American citizen in her car, the Trump administration is trying to smear Renee Good's family now. Reportedly, senior Justice Department officials have pressed for a criminal investigation into Good's widow, which today prompted both six federal prosecutors in Minnesota to resign and the resignation of five senior prosecutors in the criminal section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Good for them. But this story is so awful that even their principled stand doesn't make me feel better. And I'm not sure if there's anything that could.
[video of ICE agent slipping and falling on ice]
COLBERT: Helps a little. Just a little.
***
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
1/13/2025
11:40 PM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: First they want us to believe that we did not see what we saw happen to Renee Good. Now, he wants us to believe the protests aren't real. It's like the emperor's new clothes in reverse. He's telling us we're the ones who are naked while they do their best to cover everything up. Not only has the Trump administration iced local authorities out of the FBI's investigation into the killing of Renee Good, six senior prosecutors in Minnesota just stepped down today after being pressured by the Justice Department to investigate Renee Good's widow, who was a passenger in the car when she was shot. They're investigating the victims instead of the perpetrator.
