Richard Branson/Stephen Colbert Interview & Fight?
August 24, 2007 by Kath Skerry
On Thursday night, Stephen Colbert welcomed Virgin founder and “rebel billionaire” Richard Branson as a guest on THE COLBERT REPORT. Branson was on to talk about his new Virgin American Airline, but Stephen talked about everything but the airline (well he talked around the airline I should say). Branson, who seemed to be covering a tiny bit of hostility with an overeager smile ended the interview by “playfully” dousing Colbert with water. Colbert returned the favor soaking his guest. Awkward!
Comedy Central claims that this was all in good fun, but audience members present for the taping seemed to walk away with a different feeling. Some said Colbert looked quite angry after the exchange. Rumor has it that Comedy Central was planning on not airing the interview at all, but when bloggers got wind of what happened they decided to run it. Check it out yourself.
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What do you think of the interview? Did you think the two men were actually in a pissing match with each other, or was it done in good fun?
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Richard Branson has always seemed like a big tool to me. I have no doubt that he was really upset that Stephen only talked about “Air Colbert.”
But Colbert seemed to take it lightly, and was just laughing it off. I think he’s the kind of guy who could just get over it without making a big deal.
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I definitely think Stephen wasn’t that upset about it. Also, he did hand the water bottle back to Richard Branson and just went with it. After all the build up about the interview, I didn’t think it was a big deal. At the end of the interview when they shake hands it looked like Stephen was laughing, too. He seems like he wouldn’t take something like this too seriously.
Richard Branson is not a tool. The guy donated over 4 billion dollars to global warming research. Show a little respect. Plus, I’ve flown Virgin Atlantic from SFO to London. The flight was really top-notch. Think jet-blue with more video game/movie choices and goodie bags.
Anyway…
I don’t think Stephen was upset. There was a little awkward tension, but not a completely uncomfortable amount.
ad2121 – let’s not make it personal, to each their own, right 🙂
I thought Stephen was okay with the whole thing, and I think it was blown out of proportion. It could just be the people who actually saw it and saw the aftermath once the cameras stopped rolling had a different idea because they saw more than we did on screen. However, it seemed a bit awkward, but not the ‘trainwreck’ interview I was expecting
I thought they were funny and neither one seemed upset. It didn’t even seem that awkward to me.
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I thought that was really funny…Stephen Colbert always takes things and goes with it. He looked like he was having fun to me. I was reminded of the Dwight Army of Champions when he started talking about his Army of Intolerance or whatever…haha
Wait…that was it? Really? That was the big blow up everyone was talking about? Congratulations everyone, we’re suckers again! While I can’t say for certain that the entire thing was orchestrated, it sure plays off that way. They didn’t talk about the airline…but then the interview/airline got buzz for weeks because of the “trainwreck of an interview.” Clever strategy Branson/Colbert…very clever.
I still think both men are fantastic, mind you…but this was sooooo not what everyone thought it was (IMO)!
What a rebel billionaire.
LONDON – British Airways was fined almost $550 million on Wednesday by U.S. and British regulators after the airline acknowledged colluding with rival Virgin Atlantic over fuel surcharges.
In a statement, the airline said that between August 2004 and January 2006 it colluded with Virgin Atlantic over the surcharges added to fares in response to rising oil prices. Under the Office of Fair Trading’s leniency policy, Virgin Atlantic is not expected to face a fine because it reported the alleged misconduct to authorities.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20065386/