Stephen Colbert addresses Kate Middleton's cancer news weeks after he made affair jokes
Stephen Colbert is the latest celebrity to address previous jokes he made about Catherine, Princess of Wales, prior to her recent announcement that she is undergoing treatment for cancer.
During the March 25 episode of “The Late Show," the late-night host struck a serious tone when he spoke about on-air quips he made about the former Kate Middleton's absence from public life following a planned abdominal surgery in January.
“I don't know if you've noticed but we do a lot of shows. I tell a lot of jokes. I tell jokes about a lot of different things, mostly about what everybody is talking about,” said Colbert. “For the last six weeks to two months, everybody has been talking about the mystery of Kate Middleton’s disappearance from public life.
"Two weeks ago, we did some jokes about that mystery ... When I made those jokes, that upset some people, and even before her diagnosis was revealed.
"I can understand that a lot of my jokes have upset people in the past and some of my jokes will upset people in the future," he went on. "But there’s a standard that I try to hold myself to, and that is I do not make light of somebody else’s tragedy."
Colbert added that although he was unaware of Kate's prognosis when he made the jokes, he knows that "any cancer diagnosis of any kind" can be "harrowing for the patient and for their family."
Colbert concluded his thoughts, “Though I’m sure they don’t need it from me, I and everyone here at ‘The Late Show’ would like to extend our well-wishes and heartfelt hope that her recovery is swift and thorough.”
The Princess of Wales made headlines in recent weeks — and also inspired a slew of internet conspiracy theories — after she retreated from public life following a planned abdominal surgery in January.
On March 22, she announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer in a rare video on social media.
"In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was noncancerous,” she said in the video.
“The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present,” continued the mom of three.
The princess explained that she was undergoing a “course of preventative chemotherapy.”
Nearly two weeks before the release of Kate's video, Colbert joked about the princess' absence from public life. During a monologue on the March 12 episode of “The Late Show,” he attributed the princess' disappearance to a rumored affair on the part of her husband Prince William.
“The kingdom has been all a flutter about the seeming disappearance of Kate Middleton,” Colbert said at the time. “Well now, internet sleuths are guessing that Kate’s absence may be related to her husband, and the future King of England, William, having an affair," he said before going into a long bit about William and an alleged mistress.
After the future Queen of England shared her March 22 health update, critics slammed Colbert beneath a video of the March 12 monologue on YouTube.
"The Prince of Wales was taking care of his wife and his children while you were making jokes at their expense and spreading lies. Awful," wrote one.
"Princess Catherine has cancer. Are you laughing now?" added another.
Colbert's hardly the only celebrity to acknowledge that he took potshots at the princess prior to her cancer announcement.
Hours after Kate shared her health update, actor Blake Lively apologized on Instagram for making fun of Middleton’s “Photoshop fails,” explaining that she was "mortified today" because of her joke.
“I’m sorry. Sending love and well wishes to all, always,” wrote Lively.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com