Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert threw the Nazi salute several times while mocking President Trump Thursday night on “The Late Show.”

During his opening monologue, Mr. Colbert played a clip of former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon’s interview on CBS, in which Mr. Bannon defended the president’s widely criticized response to the deadly August protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Mr. Bannon said he was “the only guy” who defended Mr. Trump amid the fallout from blaming “both sides” for the violence: “I was the only guy that said, ‘He’s talking about something that’s … taking it up to a higher level,’ ” Mr. Bannon said.

Mr. Colbert joked about Mr. Trump “taking it to a higher level” by throwing the Nazi salute several times to demonstrate height.

“Yeah, he’s definitely taking it to a higher level. I’d say his support is about up there. Right around here,” he demonstrated with his right arm. “Or over here,” he said, throwing up his left arm.

“Somewhere up there,” he added, throwing up his right arm again.

Some social media users ripped Mr. Colbert for the stunt. Others suggested he should be fired for the same reason pro-Trump commentator Jeffrey Lord was recently fired from CNN for tweeting “Sieg Heil!” in a sarcastic manner.

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