Having mocked Mitt Romney on a plethora of occasions back in 2012 on “The Colbert Report”, Stephen Colbert got back to the same thing again, boasting of having a “bone to pick” with the Utah senator.
On Monday night, The Late Show host spent a few minutes pondering on the Utah senator’s newly revealed secret Twitter account, with the revelation coming from a profile in The Atlantic titled “The Liberation of Mitt Romney” focusing on the senator’s “role as a critic of Donald Trump”. At this point, Colbert jeered at the revelation and perhaps the profile as well, cheekily assuming it sounds like “ a mid-’70s erotic novella".
Romney appears to not immediately have shared the name of his secret account with the reporter, but did give some hints, like the number of people he follows, including a few late-night comedians. “What’s his name, the big redhead from Boston?” Romney said.
Colbert instantly picked up on the hint, exclaiming unhesitatingly, as media personality Conan O’Brien’s image popped up on the screen:
"He has a name, sir! It’s Ginger O’Pale-Body".
Slate’s Ashley Feinberg notably came to conclude that the said account i goes by the name “Pierre Delecto” and Romney cited by the profile article confirmed the guess saying in French, “C’est moi.”
“Yes, Pierre Delecto!” Colbert said. “It sounds like something from French-Canadian soft-core porn”, he went on tongue-in-cheek. “This is the most embarrassing reveal since we found out Lindsey Graham’s secret Twitter handle is ‘Wolfgang Scrumptious'", he concluded, likening this to another revelation.
Colbert appears to have enjoyed the choice of name, going on to call Romney nothing else but “Pierre”. He couldn’t help but address the senator's subscriptions, jokingly suggesting that they use the data for programme promotion:
“But I have a bone to pick with Pierre, because turns out, Conan’s not the only late-night host he follows,” Colbert said. “He also likes Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon”. With that, he said, “I’m proud to launch our new ad campaign: ‘Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon: The Choice of Mitt Romney. Watch The Late Show, only on CBS”.
Aforementioned Conan O’Brien also picked up on his being mentioned by Romney, whose real first name is actually Willard, on his show earlier in the evening on TBS. “Mitt’s like, ‘Conan, what a weird first name’”, the host joked. “OK, Mitt”.
The secret Twitter account has spawned an overwhelming debate on social networks, with many mocking the choice of name, while some wondered why on Earth the ex-businessman and serving senator was attempting to hide his personality under a nickname: