Stephen Colbert offers sarcastic apology to Dearborn man whose existence he questioned

Late night liberal comedian Stephen Colbert delivered a sarcastic apology on his show Thursday to a Dearborn man he said didn't exist last week, and then ripped into him again, accusing him and the Republican candidate he supports for governor of being transphobic.

The man he attacked for a second time, Khalil Othman, 41, of Dearborn, fired back at Colbert, saying he is the one promoting hate and division.

Othman gained national attention after the CBS late-night host said last week he was "totally made up" by Tudor Dixon, Michigan's GOP nominee for governor, who had boasted of Othman's support as a Democrat-turned-Republican.

Colbert was skeptical of her story that a Michigan man approached her complaining of an inappropriate book he found in a school library, having failed to find support from Democrats.

Dixon then criticized Colbert during a campaign rally in Dearborn. After the Free Press first reported Othman's story, it was picked up by media outlets across the U.S. and spread on social media as many criticized Colbert and asked him to apologize.

Related:Stephen Colbert doubted existence of man Tudor Dixon cited in debate — but he's real

Othman dismissed Colbert's latest remarks, telling the Free Press on Friday night they were sarcastic and unfairly accused him of being anti-trans. The father of five said he respects LGBTQ people and every other group, but objects to keeping in public schools books he says are too sexually explicit for children. Othman is one of many protesters in Dearborn who have attended protests over the past few weeks objecting to certain books in Dearborn Public Schools. The district has removed for review six books so far.

"It's a sarcastic apology," Othman said by phone from Clinton Township, where he spoke at a rally for Tudor Dixon. "Trying so hard to label this grassroot movement as a movement that is standing against any other community is totally unacceptable. And it's just creating division and hate."

On his show Thursday night, Colbert spoke for about five minutes on Othman, but did not mention his name and took a dig at him, claiming he's anti-trans.

"Well, it turns out the Detroit Free Press talked to this guy and he's real," Colbert said on "The Late Show." "So I'd like to issue a rare correction. This very real person deserves an apology, because he says, 'To claim that I'm not here, I don't exist. I'm not human. That's absolute ignorance.' So I would like to apologize. It is a terrible thing for someone deny your very existence, just ask trans people. So therefore, I, Stephen Colbert, acknowledge that you exist and ask that you forgive me."

Colbert also criticized Othman for supporting Dixon, whom he called "an election denying transphobic COVID-19 conspiracy theorist."

Othman said he never denied that trans people exist.

"Nobody said anything about that," Othman said. "We know they do exist; we respect their values. We're actually not even talking about them. We just talked about specific books."

The books removed from Dearborn's school libraries for review include: "Push" by Sapphire, "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George M. Johnson, "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold, "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell, "Red, White and Royal Blue" by Casey McQuiston and "This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson.

More:LGBTQ and faith communities struggle for unity in Dearborn, Hamtramck

More:Dearborn divisions over LGBTQ books spur national debate as candidates compete for votes

Othman spoke this week on News Nation with Chris Cuomo, Fox News, Newsmax, and was featured in conservative media outlets such as the Daily Wire, Daily Mail, The Blaze and Breitbart, among others. Some conservative writers also criticized the comedian.

"Colbert’s unfunny joke has been thoroughly debunked," wrote Ben Shapiro, a popular right-wing commentator who founded the Daily Wire.

Othman campaigned with Dixon in Taylor on Thursday and in Clinton Township on Friday.

"There's nothing more important than standing for our kids," Dixon told the crowd in Clinton Township while introducing Othman to the stage, a video on Facebook shows. "We have someone special with us. I just want to bring this person up quickly because you may have heard that I recently told, a story about a father who was concerned about the stuff that was in schools. And Stephen Colbert said, 'What a joke, this guy doesn't exist.' Well, Khalil Othman wants to come up here and show you that he does exist."

Othman walked on stage to cheers.

"Hello, Steve, I'm here. I'm real, I do exist," he said to the crowd. "You have all the right to disagree with me, with what I believe in, but denying my existence is absolutely irresponsible and disrespectful. Thank you, Dixon for being here for the families. You got my full support, because you're the only one who stood up with the parents in Dearborn rejecting these sexually explicit books."

Colbert said he first found out about criticism of his denial of Othman on social media.

"I woke up this morning and found out I was trending on Twitter," Colbert said. "That's rarely good news. So I clicked on my own name."

He said he then read some of the comments criticizing him.

"I don't make many mistakes that I'm willing to admit," Colbert said. "But when I do, I'm big enough to admit them. You see, last Wednesday, I was talking about Michigan GOP nominee for governor and star of the movie "Smile," Tudor Dixon. As one of the centerpieces of her campaign, Dixon has called for banning books from schools and libraries, especially LGBTQ books. And during that debate, she told a story that, frankly, I doubted."

Othman, an immigrant from Yemen who was a former city council and state House candidate, said he was a Democrat until recently because of his concern over the books in schools. He's concerned Colbert is pushing the idea to a national audience that he and others in Dearborn are bigots. Dearborn is about 47% Arab American, the highest percentage among cities in the U.S.

"You are apologizing to me because you made a dumb mistake," Othman said. "Now, you are trying to frame" this as "trying to be against or denying the existence of another minority."

But "that was never the case," Othman said. "Using a powerful media outlet that's able to reach millions of people ... to try to make it look like these parents are against another minority group, it's absolutely mind-blowing. These parents don't deserve to be treated that way or labeled that way."

Othman added: "I don't really need his apology, to be honest. I wasn't asking for an apology. ... It's not about Khalil Othman. It's not about me personally ... it's about thousands of parents ... across the country who are just trying to ... make sure their kids are not being exposed to these things."

Othman said Colbert and others like him don't acknowledge the existence of people who don't fit into their political worldview.

"You did not believe it because it's not aligned with your agenda," Othman said. "The people who are not aligned with your agenda, they don't exist."

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or Twitter @nwarikoo.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Stephen Colbert delivers sarcastic apology to Dearborn's Khalil Othman