Stephen Colbert opened Thursday night’s episode of The Late Show with a Disney-styled animated musical number lampooning ABC and its parent company Disney for suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! under pressure from the Trump administration.
The cold open reimagined the classic “Be Our Guest” sequence from Beauty and the Beast, with a cartoon Lumière delivering a message to Disney employees following the company’s decision to pull Kimmel off the air after threats from FCC chair Brendan Carr.
“Shut your trap, shut your trap / We’re warning you to cut the crap / A dear leader’s skin is thinner than a sheet of plastic wrap,” he crooned in his signature theatrical flair.
He continued, “Mum’s the word, have you heard? Kissing ass is what’s preferred. Don’t insult a dictator or he’ll hit you with this turd” (cut to image of Carr), later warning, “From the rule at ABC: don’t make fun of Don and don’t point out that his neck is mostly flap.”
The number ended with a flourish as Lumière belted, “So don’t you make a scene / or mention Jeff Epstein / or your show will be scrapped / Shut your trap!”
Kimmel’s suspension was a central theme throughout Thursday’s Late Show—as it was across all of late night—with Colbert even reviving his Comedy Central-era “Stephen Colbert” persona for a special Kimmel-focused edition of “The Word.”
Watch the full cold open at the top of this post.
