Colbert Apologizes for Kate Middleton Bit: ‘I Do Not Make Light of Somebody Else’s Tragedy’

COLBERT: “All right, please have a seat. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. You know, folks, I don’t know if you have noticed, but we do a lot of shows and I tell a lot of jokes, and I tell jokes about a lot of different things, mostly what everybody’s talking about. And for the last six weeks to two months, everybody has been talking about the mystery of Kate Middleton’s disappearance from the public life. And two weeks ago, we did some jokes about that mystery and all of the reporting about that. And when I made those jokes, that upset some people and — even before her diagnosis was revealed, and I can understand that. I mean, a lot of my jokes have upset people in the past. And I’m sure some of my jokes will upset people in the future. But there is a standard that I try to hold myself to. And that is, I do not make light of somebody else’s tragedy. Now, I don’t know whether her prognosis is a tragic one, she is the future queen of England and I assume she’s going to be be getting the best possible medical care, but regardless of what it is, I know and I’m sure many of you, far too many of us know that any cancer diagnosis of any kind is harrowing for the patient and for their family. And... though I’m sure they don’t need it from me, I and everyone here at ‘The Late Show’ would like to extend our well wishes and heartfelt hope that her recovery is swift and thorough. Now, please say hello to Louis Cato and ‘The Late Show’ band.”