With the threat of a writers strike now behind it, the presidents of the Writers Guild of America East and West turned their attention to the FCC and its plan to review a joke made by late-night comedian Stephen Colbert about President Donald Trump.

In Colbert’s 12-plus-minute monologue on May 2, 2017, in defense of John Dickerson of CBS’ Face the Nation, Colbert said “the only thing [Trump’s] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c—- holster.” (at 11:48 in the below video).

CBS bleeped the c-word — although it was actually the word “cuck,” which is an inside joke/insult among Breitbart News and ultra-conservative insiders. There, “cuck” is used as an abbreviation of the word “cuckhold” and, to them, means “weak conservative.” Still, the network censors took a conservative approach to the usage.

On Friday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told Philadelphia Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that he’s seen the clip and reviewed the complaints.

“[W]e are going to take the facts that we find and we are going to apply the law as it’s been set out by the Supreme Court and other courts and we’ll take the appropriate action,” Pai told the station.

Traditionally, appropriate action for what the FCC rules as indecency has been a fine, Pai went on to say. CBS, on which The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs, is familiar with that action, having faced large fines after Justin Timberlake briefly revealed Janet Jackson’s bare breast during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004.

Michael Winship, president of WGAE, and Howard Rodman, president of WGAW, said in a statement Monday that Pai’s remarks were a “willful disregard of the First Amendment.”

“Colbert was poking fun at authority, a time-honored American tradition and an essential principle of democracy. What is obscene is not what Colbert said but any attempt by the government to stifle dissent and creativity. Our unions vehemently support Colbert and his writers and will fight for their or anyone’s right to publicly express his or her opinion of our elected officials.”

It should be hard for the FCC to pursue fines against CBS. The Late Show airs at 11 p.m., well within the broadcast “safe harbor” of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for indecent or profane content. In addition, CBS bleeped the word and blurred the Colbert’s mouth.

READ MORE: Variety

[Image of Stephen Colbert courtesy of Variety]

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