‘Is That Supposed to Be a Laugh Line?!’ Kaitlan Collins Needles Audience’s Reaction After Colbert Called CNN ‘Objective’

During Monday’s conversation between CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Stephen Colbert , the studio audience at The Late Show weighed in on the host’s description of CNN as “objective.”

In between her anecdotes about covering the Republican National Convention and President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race, Colbert asked Collins a question about her perspective on the stories with the caveat that CNN as a network was “objective.” The audience’s response was to laugh, which Collins took umbrage at:

Colbert: I know you guys are objective over there, that you just report the news as it is. No, CNN makes, I know if it’s–

[ Audience laughs ]

Collins: Is that supposed to be a laugh line?!

Colbert: It wasn’t supposed to be, but I guess it is!

According to a 2023 study by nonpartisan watchdog group Ad Fontas, CNN was seen as the most reliable cable news network when surveyed alongside MSNBC, Fox News, Newsmax, and NewsNation — with CNN edging out NewsNation for the title. Ad Fontes gave CNN a score of -10 for bias (with negative scores indicating left-leaning bias, apositive scores indicating right-leaning bias, and zero being perfectly down the middle). While CNN was deemed to “skew left” by Ad Fontes, it did score closer to zero than its direct competitors MSNBC (labeled “strong left” with a -16.8 score) and Fox News (labeled “strong right” with a  score of 17.83).

Collins, seemingly prepared to maintain balance and equal time, discussed both the news of Biden dropping out as well as her phone call with former President Donald Trump in an Uber on her way back to CNN headquarters in New York.

Watch the full segment via The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on YouTube .