Stephen Colbert Mocks Trump’s ‘Triple Sabotage’ Claim With Sherlock Holmes Skit
Stephen Colbert devoted much of his Thursday monologue on The Late Show to mockingly investigating President Donald Trump’s claim of “triple sabotage” during his United Nations appearance this week.
Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday with a lengthy post alleging “three very sinister events” during his appearance at United Nations headquarters, and demanded an “immediate investigation” into malfunctions with an escalator, the teleprompter, and the sound system.
Colbert replayed footage of Trump’s stumble as the escalator suddenly stopped, adding that the president “just will not let it go.” In his post, Trump described the halted escalator as nearly catastrophic, later declaring: “The people that did it should be arrested.”
The comedian then seized on the conspiracy with a mock “new CBS procedural” titled ‘Escalator Investigator.’
Dooning a deerstalker cap and tobacco pipe, famously the attire of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, Colbert began to unpack the escalator failure in a bid to solve the mystery.
“The UN explained that the escalator stopped after a built-in safety mechanism was likely triggered by Trump’s videographer, who, as you can see in this footage, is riding ahead of Trump on the escalator,” he said, adding: “Case closed.”
He went on to lampoon Trump’s complaints about a failed teleprompter, stacking the skit on top of the last while he placed another hat on his head an another pipe in his mouth.
“Are there any subtle clues about who sabotaged the president’s teleprompter?” he asked in character. “So far, all we know, according to the UN, is that the teleprompter for the president is operated by the White House. So, looks like our ‘whodunit’ has become a ‘who dum-dum.’”
With that mystery solved he continued: “But wait, we haven’t solved the third sabotage! After making the speech, I was told that the sound was completely off in the auditorium and world leaders – unless they use the interpreter’s earpieces – couldn’t hear a thing.
Introducing the new mock episode ‘Ineffective Acoustics Detective’ Colbert threw on a further hat and chewed on a third pipe.
“Why did people have trouble hearing Trump in the room?” he asked.
“So far, the only evidence we have is the answer, which is that it’s always quiet in the auditorium. Because the UN sound system was designed to allow people to hear speeches through earpieces,” Colbert mused.
“Oh! Oh, right. Um – let’s check the return policy at Spirit Halloween,” he said, taking off his costume to applause.
Watch above via CBS.
