Stephen Colbert Revives ‘Hunger Games’ Gag for Rex Tillerson Firing
Stephen Colbert revived his Hunger Games-inspired political commentator for the first time since the 2016 presidential election to send off Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday’s Late Show.
“For those of us in the media, the constant turnover has been amazing to watch: The drama, the fireworks, the winners, the losers, the losers, the losers,” Colbert said of the revolving door White House. “It’s like something out of the Hunger Games. Or, something even more dramatic than that: It’s The Hungry to Leave Power Games.”
Colbert dusted off his gold flambé suit, blue-and-black coiffed hair and taxidermy weasel to assume the role of Caesar Flickerman, who delivered an overview of former Exxon executive Tillerson’s short tenure as Secretary of State.
As Flickerman noted, Tillerson’s time in the Trump administration was highlighted by the time he allegedly called the president “a fucking moron” – “Rexy, play nice. Remember what Grandma Tillerson said, ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, you’re talking about Donald Trump,'” Flickerman said – and overseeing a state department that saw roughly 60 percent of its diplomats resign.
Flickerman then said farewell to Tillerson by placing a figurine of the now-former Secretary of State in a little coffin and dousing it with motor oil. The segment ended with a lengthy tribute montage to all of the former members of the Trump administration, from Omarosa and Hope Hicks to Steve Bannon and Anthony Scaramucci.