Stephen Colbert is no architect, but he knows a bad renovation when he sees one.
The Emmy-winning comedian and outspoken late-night TV host weighed in on President Donald Trump’s historic move to demolish the East Wing of the White House.
A White House spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY on Wednesday, Oct. 22, that the “entirety” of the East Wing, which traditionally houses the first lady’s offices, will be undergoing “modernization and renovation” as a new ballroom is built, in a stark reversal of earlier plans.
“As of this morning, the East Wing looked like a rotisserie chicken your dog got into,” Colbert, 61, joked during a Thursday segment of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” “That is very upsetting to look at.”
Recent images of the presidential residence show the heaps of rubble left behind after Trump’s demolition got underway. The teardown marks the first time a president ordered major construction to the White House in nearly eight decades.
When the White House first released the plans for the 90,000-square-foot ballroom on July 31, Trump told reporters that the addition would not “interfere with the current building.” However, a White House official later told USA TODAY that the scope and size of the ballroom project has always been subject to vary as the project’s scale progressed.
On Wednesday, Trump told reporters that the decision to tear down the entire structure was made after “tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world,” adding, “In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure.”
Stephen Colbert rips Trump’s lavish White House East Wing demolition
Construction workers began demolishing the facade of the East Wing on Monday, Oct. 20. The demo is part of President Trump‘s $300 million, 90,000-square-foot expansion to build a ballroom on the eastern side of the White House.
During Thursday’s “Late Show,” Colbert blasted Trump for undertaking the lavish renovation.
“Trump has received a lot of money for his ‘ball-doggle,’ from groveling corporations like Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Meta Platforms and Hard Rock International,” Colbert said. “Yes, the Hard Rock. So, guests of the ballroom get to see all the great rock ‘n’ roll presidential memorabilia like Bill Clinton’s sax and Nixon’s cone bra.”
The demolition quickly ignited controversy, earning mixed reactions from politicians and sparking concern among architectural experts, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit urged the Trump administration and the National Park Service to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom “go through the legally required public review processes,” with National Trust president Carol Quillen cautioning that the new construction “will overwhelm the White House itself.”
“It’s going to be bigger than the White House itself. It’s going to be 90,000 square feet. Ninety thousand is about the same size as a professional soccer field,” Colbert said, later quipping: “So, remember, corporations, as you bribe the president, no hands.”
Contributing: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy and Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY
