On the September 10, 2025 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Colbert added a separately recorded statement before the opening credits after learning that Charlie Kirk had been killed. He offered condolences, condemned political violence, and then proceeded with the episode’s prepared material.
Why Colbert changed the opening
The show learned of Kirk’s killing after that night’s scripts had been finished. Rather than replace the episode, Colbert recorded a brief acknowledgment that aired as a cold open, before the regular credits. The show then moved into the material prepared earlier.
Contemporaneous accounts by Variety and TheWrap describe the separately recorded pre-credits segment. The Guardian reports that the program cut from the acknowledgment to Colbert’s prepared monologue, where he resumed topical comedy.
What Colbert said
Colbert expressed sympathy for Kirk’s family and loved ones, recalled remembering political violence in the 1960s, and said violence cannot resolve political disagreements. He ended by hoping the killing was an aberrant act rather than a sign of what was to come, then introduced the show they had prepared.
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“After our scripts for tonight’s show were finished, we learned that Charlie Kirk, a prominent right-wing activist, was killed at a speaking engagement in Utah. Our condolences go out to his family and all of his loved ones. I am old enough to personally remember the political violence of the 1960s, and I hope it is obvious to everyone in America that political violence does not solve any of our political differences. Political violence only leads to more political violence. And I pray with all my heart that this is the aberrant action of a madman and not a sign of things to come. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the show that we had prepared for you.”
The wording above follows Variety’s transcription; other contemporaneous accounts publish the remarks with minor transcription or punctuation differences.
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How the segment fit into the episode
The change was limited to the opening: a topical statement was inserted before the credits, while the planned episode continued afterward. It is therefore more precise to describe the episode as having an added cold open than to say Colbert rewrote the opening credits or replaced the program.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Program context
Paramount Global Content’s official listing identifies The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as a CBS talk and late-night program hosted by Colbert, with Louis Cato as bandleader and the Ed Sullivan Theater as its venue. The listing gives September 2, 2025, as the season 11 premiere; it provides series context, not episode-specific documentation of this edit.
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