LEFTIST DISCOVERS MEMORY HOLE: CBS News Prez Ordered Morning Show to Ignore Colbert’s Finale Because of Late Show’s ‘Unprofessional’ Shot at Tony Dokoupil: Report.
“I’m told the ghosting was a specific directive from CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, who hated Colbert’s recent bit mocking their failure to secure a China visa for anchor Tony Dokoupil, Belloni wrote. “Colbert ‘kicked colleagues when they were down,’ one source at CBS News told me today. ‘It was unprofessional and unprovoked.’”
The segment that angered Cibrowski mocked Dokoupil for reporting from “The Wrong China” — he was forced to broadcast from Taiwan during President Donald Trump’s China trip because of the botched visa — and showed a phony version of the anchor with his head stuck inside a pumpkin.
It then showed an old lady portraying Bari Weiss entering the shot and smacking him on the head with a mallet… in an effort to help him out, apparently. The Colbert crowd seemed to find it fairly funny.
But the CBS News bosses didn’t, especially since the news unit had supported Colbert following his cancellation and in his battle with the FCC earlier this year, Belloni reported.
As Jason Zinoman wrote in his 2017 biography of David Letterman, when GE bought NBC in 1985, Letterman began to routinely tear into the giant corporation on air:
Building General Electric up as the enemy enabled Letterman, at the height of his cultural influence, to reclaim the role of the little guy. It also put him in the tradition of comedians saying the things to their bosses that you always wished you could say to yours. Letterman, who still wanted to be seen as an underdog, turned Late Night into a drama for playful complaints about the corporate giant. He staked out his most aggressive stance toward his bosses in April 1986, when he ventured out to the headquarters of General Electric to give them a welcoming gift, with a camera crew in tow. With his arm around a large fruit basket, he entered the revolving door, only to be stopped by security. “We received your letter,” a woman told him, adding that he had not gotten authorization. “We need authorization to drop off a fruit basket?” Letterman asked.
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In the video, a GE security guard approached Letterman aggressively, and later walked up to Hal Gurnee, who had been filming the scene. Both Letterman and Gurnee extended their hands for a handshake, and the security guard started to do the same before having second thoughts, pulling his hand back abruptly. In the editing, Hal Gurnee saw this moment and knew it would make for the key part of the comedy. On the air, after showing the remote piece, Letterman gave this aborted greeting a name: the General Electric Handshake. He smiled when he said it.
But Letterman delivered good ratings for late night, and his show carried the imprimatur of Johnny Carson. At least until Carson announced his retirement in 1991, Letterman could get away with his anti-corporate shtick at NBC. In contrast, Colbert was costing CBS $40 million a year. Why should the news division lay down for him after his last show?