Stephen Colbert's Politically Incorrect Joke on Twitter Has People Calling for His Show to Be Cancelled

Apparently channeling the "ignorant" character that he plays on his TV show, comedian Stephen Colbert tweeted on Thursday, “I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.”

Since then, racial outrage has ensued and the hashtag #CancelColbert has been trending nationally on Twitter. However, in this instance, some context is important. Mediaite’s Josh Feldman explains:

Stephen Colbert, in case you didn’t know this, plays a character on his TV show. A character that is purposefully ignorant. As he’s said in the past, “I do the show in character – and he’s an idiot; he’s wilfully [sic] ignorant of everything we’re going to talk about.” So bear that in mind as you read about people on Twitter calling for Colbert to be cancelled because of a tweet the show sent out that said some purposefully ignorant things.

The tweet was a quote from Wednesday night’s show, in which Colbert was making fun of Redskins owner Dan Snyder for responding to complaints about the team name by announcing a foundation to help Native Americans. The Colbert character figured if that’s all it took to deal with accusations of racism, then he could just clear up issues surrounding his character Ching Chong Ding Dong by announcing the Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.

Here's the tweet, which has since been deleted:

(Screengrab via Mediaite)

Even knowing the context behind the "joke," many people are calling it "racist" and "ignorant."

You can track the outrage on Twitter by scrolling through the many, many tweets that include the #CancelColbert hashtag, which you can find here.

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UPDATE: The official "Colbert Report" Twitter account tweeted late Thursday:

For the record @ColbertReport is not controlled by Stephen Colbert or his show. He is @StephenAtHome Sorry for the confusion #CancelColbert

— The Colbert Report (@ColbertReport) March 28, 2014