Saying that an awards show acceptance speech made me cry isn’t unusual. I cry all the way through the Emmys, Oscars, and Grammys. Even though they are so rich and famous, it makes me so emotional to see artists being rewarded for their work.Â
But Stephen Colbert’s acceptance speech was different. It was heavier, it held more meaning despite the whole speech only being about 2 minutes. He touches on everything that has happened over the last ten years of reign over Late Night. Most of it being about loss, grief, and the state of the country compared to when he started.Â
His speech at this year’s Emmys was especially bittersweet after CBS decided to part ways with Colbert earlier this year. The network has publicly said that the show was cancelled for financial reasons, but many fans speculate that the real reason was Colbert’s strong criticisms of President Trump. Viewers think that the network made this decision to avoid further scrutiny from the Trump administration, especially after Paramount’s (CBS’s parent company) $16 settlement after Trump sued the network for a 60 Minutes interview with former-vice president Kamala Harris.Â
Colbert begins the speech by thanking CBS for allowing him and his late night staff to call the network home. He thanks friends, family, and his extended staff. Colbert also mentions his late friend and former assistant, Amy Cole.Â
He talks about a time when director Spike Jonze asked him what he wanted his show to be about. Colbert replied with, “Well I don’t know how’d you do it, but I’d kind of like to do… a late night comedy show that was about love.” He goes to say that he’s not sure if he ever figured out how to do that, but that he realized he was really doing a late night comedy show about loss.Â
I don’t know if you have ever seen Colbert’s interview with Anderson Cooper after the loss of Cooper’s mother, but this comedian has some of the most insightful commentary on grief I have ever heard. When Colbert presented an award at the beginning of the Emmys, he jokingly asked the audience if anyone was hiring. Even asking actor Harrison Ford to pass his resume along to director Steven Spielberg. However, I think that Colbert should pivot from entertainment and get into grief counseling.Â
He continues by, in my opinion indirectly addressing the controversy around the show’s cancellation, saying “ten years later in September of 2025, I have never loved my country more desperately. God Bless America. Stay strong. Be brave. And if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.”
I think that Colbert’s speech, and much of what he has said since the cancellation, is reflective of what many Americans are feeling right now. It is a tough time to love America, it is also a tough time to admit that you love America. But, Americans like Colbert aren’t submitting to this country’s dangerous nationalism. They’re instead acknowledging that there is work to be done to make a place in America for everyone. I think that Colbert is also acknowledging that although his work and life has been upended, allegedly by government censorship, he is still willing to do what needs to be done to make this country safer. Although this cannot be undone, much of what has happened in the last nine months can be undone or stopped so as to not make the situation worse. Laws can be reinstated or removed. We can stop this country’s descent into authoritarianism. Criticisms of the current administration aren’t “un-American,” they are as American as you can get. Colbert is not giving up, he is just getting started.Â
This speech was not Colbert going gently into the goodnight, but rather raging against the dying of the light.