Stephen Colbert drew scorn from across the political spectrum for his quip on May 1. | Getty FCC: Colbert won't face action over Trump-Putin joke

"Late Show" host Stephen Colbert will not face action from regulators despite complaints over a controversial Trump-Putin joke he made during his monologue earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission announced Tuesday.

A spokesman for the FCC said Tuesday in a statement that after a review of the matter, the agency had "concluded that there was nothing actionable under the FCC's rules."


Colbert drew scorn from across the political spectrum following a May 1 show during which he joked that President Donald Trump's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin was "beneath the dignity of American broadcasting,” adding that “the only thing [Trump’s] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s [expletive] holster.”

The comments were widely panned online, with many on social media resurrecting the #FireColbert campaign that plagued a portion of his tenure as a host on Comedy Central. As of last Friday, the FCC had received over 5,700 complaints of indecency, hate speech and homophobia over Colbert's quip on the CBS late-night show.

Colbert, who has surged in late-night TV ratings in the wake of Trump's election, in part due to his scorching critiques of the president, was met with pushback from conservatives and liberals alike.

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“There is nothing wrong with two men who love each other,” read one FCC complaint, from a trans man who identifies as homosexual, provided to POLITICO in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. “I don't like Trump but I also don't like anti-homosexual comments being aired for millions of people to see. I have to say, shame on you for allowing this.”

Others urged the federal government to uphold the integrity of the presidency, no matter the party of the president.

“I know all you Commie shills hate this president but it is your job to keep these Leftists from dragging this nation further into the gutter,” read one complaint.

Two days following his controversial remarks, Colbert tempered his comments, saying that although he did not regret his criticism of the president, he regretted the language he'd used to express it.

"While I would do it again, I would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be," Colbert said on the May 3 edition of the "Late Show."

He added: "I just want to say for the record, life is short, and anyone who expresses their love for another person, in their own way, is to me, an American hero."