Stephen Colbert mocks CNN’s live Democratic debate drawing with promo spoof
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“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is typically in lockstep with the liberal CNN, but the lefty talk show host couldn't help but mock the network’s upcoming on-air drawing to determine which candidates will take the stage for its Democratic debates.
“The Late Show” opened Wednesday’s episode with a mock commercial for the “The draw draw” in which Colbert’s announcer joked that CNN will “draw to see how we draw for the draw,” before cutting to a series of embarrassing images of various CNN pundits.
CNN MIRED IN A CREDIBILITY CRISIS AS RATINGS CONTINUE TO COLLAPSE, EXPERTS SAY
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“Will it be Wolf Blitzer slathered in honey and rolled in candidate photographs? Whoever sticks to his chest is on the first night, on his ass the second,” the announcer said over an image of an underwear-clad Blitzer covered in honey and Polaroid pictures.
“Chris Cuomo sitting on eggs,” is the next suggestion for how CNN will determine the drawing. “The order they hatch is the order they’re drawn,” the announcer said over an image of the “Cuomo Prime Time” namesake sitting on blue eggs.
Then “John King strapped to the wheel of chaos,” and “David Gergen flipping a coin… over a bed of knives.”
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THIS IS CNN? PRIMETIME SHOWS FILLED WITH LIBERAL OPINION, NOT STRAIGHT NEWS AS NETWORK CLAIMS
The ratings-challenged CNN will air a drawing on Thursday night to decide which candidates will square off against each other during the two-day event scheduled for July 30-31. The field of 20 Democratic presidential hopefuls will be split into two groups of 10, with the groups decided by the drawing.
Colbert’s mock promo is obviously poking fun at CNN’s upcoming drawing, which has been compared to the NBA Draft Lottery and widely lampooned by critics.
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On Thursday morning, the struggling CNN displayed a countdown clock to inform viewers exactly how many minutes are left until the stunt airs. CNN, which was criticized for giving airtime to white nationalist Richard Spencer earlier in the week, has had ongoing issues attracting viewers during primetime. It finished the second quarter of 2019 ranked No. 15 among basic cable channels, averaging only 761,000 prime-time viewers and finishing behind channels including Discovery and the Food Network.