Stephen Colbert ripped into Donald Trump for his baffling inability to answer a simple question about Les Misérables—despite claiming he’s seen the musical multiple times.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump were attending the musical’s opening on Wednesday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the iconic Washington venue where the president unleashed a MAGA takeover earlier this year.
In an awkward red carpet moment, a reporter asked whether he identified more with Jean Valjean, the story’s hero, or Inspector Javert, its villain. Despite frequently naming Les Misérables as one of his favorite musicals, Trump appeared flustered.
“Oh, that’s a tough one, that last part of that question. That’s tough,” Trump said, before turning to his wife. “I think you better answer that one, honey. I don’t know.”
The first lady smiled, but didn’t answer.
“What do you mean you don’t know? Javert is the bad guy!” Colbert said on his Late Show Thursday night, reacting to Trump’s red carpet exchange. “You just said you’ve seen the show a number of times. Is that number zero?”
“Though it’s possible Trump doesn’t remember who the characters are, because his brain is wet bread,” the comedian said, before breaking out into an impression of Trump. “‘The character I identify most with... is Les. Les. Lester Miserables. Big tough guy. Built that castle on a cloud. Not happy about it.’”
The president has long expressed his love for the musical, and even used its revolutionary anthem “Do You Hear the People Sing?” as his entrance music to a rally in Miami back in 2016—a move which deeply upset Sir Cameron Mackintosh and the stage musical’s co-creators.
In the musical, which is set against the backdrop of a failed 1832 Paris uprising, the song is sung by student revolutionaries rallying against oppression.
“I love the songs, I love the play,” Trump told Fox News Digital ahead of its opening at the Kennedy Center this week.
“We’ve seen it a number of times, it’s fantastic. It was just about our first choice, that’s what we got,” he also told reporters Wednesday.
Apparently, loving the show doesn’t mean knowing what it’s about.
