Dec. 02--The Colbert Report
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Late-night comedy host Stephen Colbert has weighed in on the controversy over several St. Louis Rams players taking the field while doing the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture before their team's game against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.
"That is just wrong," Colbert said on Monday on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" in his signature mock-serious tone. "Why would anyone surrender to the Raiders?"
Colbert got a good four minutes or so of comedy out of the furor over the gesture made by Rams players Kenny Britt, Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Jared Cook and Chris Givens to show solidarity with protesters in nearby Ferguson.
The St. Louis Police Officers Assn., which has called the players' actions "tasteless, offensive, and inflammatory," may not have found the bit all that funny.
Not that Colbert seemed to care much about that.
"The cops are right," Colbert said during his sketch. "You have to stop that kind of offensive gesture before it spreads. I mean, during the game I saw referees do it a bunch of times." The screen then showed a graphic of an official signaling a touchdown.
He added: "They built giant steel monuments to it at each end of the field," with the screen showing a graphic of a goal post.
And: "Later, the crowd even passed it around in some kind of celebration," while viewers saw footage of fans doing the wave.
Colbert wrapped it up by saying, "There are just some hand gestures that black people should not attempt right now," and proceeding to list off such motions as jazz hands, "I'm a Little Teapot," and "Here's the church, here's the steeple."
