Watch: Stephen Colbert rewrites the Statue of Liberty poem in tune with Trump’s immigration policy
‘The Late Show’ host magnificently took on Trump’s advisor Stephen Miller.
The host of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert, found new fodder to criticise the Donald Trump administration in the United States last week. He attacked the new immigration policies suggested by the government as well as Trump’s advisor Stephen Miller’s defensive approach.
While talking to a journalist at a press meet, Miller said, “I don’t want to get into a whole thing about history here, but the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of liberty and lighting the world. It’s a symbol of American liberty lighting the world. The poem (bottom) that you’re referring to was added later, it’s not actually a part of the original Statue of Liberty.”
Colbert didn’t let that one go. Impersonating Miller’s voice, he said, “The torch was originally a weapon intended to ward off immigrants, who actually fear fire, and the spikes on her crown were meant to deter foreigners from landing in hot air balloons. Look it up.”
The poem on the Statue of Liberty needs an update, Colbert said, keeping in mind the Trump administration and its new take on immigration. “Give me your wealthy, your rich, your huddled MBAs yearning to be tax free. Send these – the English-speaking, fully insured – to me,” he recited on the show. “I lift my lamp beside the golden door and lift my leg upon your filthy poor. PS: No fatties, please.”
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbour that twin cities frame.“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
— Emma Lazarus
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”