Stephen Colbert should wear his cancellation like a badge of honour

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The Hello Goodbye swan song of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ was funny, poignant and fittingly surreal, with an Einstein-Rosen loophole opening backstage at the Ed Sullivan Theater, a portal which sucked the host, band, audience and the building itself into a rotating lime green vortex to another dimension.

The loss of Mr Colbert’s wit, menschlichkeit (humaneness, compassion). and moral compass on late night network television will be keenly felt by millions of Americans next week. The loss of Stephen Colbert’s company, after 11 years of political upheaval, pandemic and uncertainty, is a loss for democracy.

As Hester Prynne wore her “Scarlet A” as a sign of defiance against her Puritan oppressors, may Stephen Colbert wear his “C” of cancellation as a badge of pride — as a signifier of his rejection of the absurdity, pomposity and cruelty that he punctured with his satiric quill.

I wish Mr Colbert Godspeed as he begins to limn the sequel to The Lord of the Rings. I picture him alongside Peter Jackson scouting film locations on the South Island of New Zealand or in the green shires of England.

ERIC RADACK

Santa Fe