The joke’s on Stephen Colbert.
On his “Late Show,” the funnyman accused Republican Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon of inventing a story about a Democratic voter who changed his party affiliation to the GOP due to his frustration about “pornographic” materials in libraries.
But it turns out the supposedly fictitious man is very real.
Khalil Othman, 41, a former Dearborn City Council candidate, came forward as the man Dixon had referred to at a debate against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Oct. 25, the Detroit Free Press reported.
“To claim that I’m not here, I don’t exist, I’m not human, that’s absolute ignorance,” Othman told the newspaper.
In Colbert’s monologue the day after the debate, the comedian joked about the voter’s concerns about sexually-explicit materials being found in libraries.
“Dixon’s not the only one worried about this issue. So is this guy she totally made up,” Colbert said.
Colbert then played a clip of Dixon recounting how she had been approached by Othman, a father of five, about his frustration with the Democrats.
“I had a gentleman come up to me just a few nights ago and he said, ‘I found content in my school library describing how to have sex to my son,’” Dixon said in the clip of the debate.
“He said ‘just a few weeks ago, not only was I a Democrat, but I was running for office as a Democrat.’ He said because Democrats won’t stand up for our children and go back to the basics, ‘I’m leaving the Democratic Party,’” Dixon added.
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In his monologue, Colbert described Dixon as an “anti-choice MAGA Republican” and mocked her account about the Democrat-turned-Republican.
“OK, fine, that happened,” he said sarcastically, using air quotes to drive home his skepticism.
During a campaign stop in Dearborn on Sunday, Dixon hit back at Colbert.
“I told his story (during the debate),” she told the hundreds in attendance, according to the Free Press.
“And Stephen Colbert picks it up. … And they make this whole skit about how this has never happened. That’s what he said, this story never happened. That’s where the Democrats are right now. You don’t exist, your stories are not important,” she added.
Meanwhile, Othman shared a video on Facebook of his initial meeting with Dixon at an Oct. 21 rally in Flat Rock.
“My name is Khalil Othman. I came all the way from Dearborn, Michigan. I’m here along with two parents, concerned parents … against these sexually explicit books,” he said to cheers in the clip.
“I am a proud Muslim-American who expresses my values and concerns all the time,” Othman continued. “Dearborn has been voting Democrat blue for the last decade or two decades. But not anymore. On behalf of myself and my family, I guarantee you for sure that my family and my friends will vote for Republicans.”
In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Othman slammed Colbert for suggesting that the candidate’s account about him was fake.
“If this person did his due diligence and start researching or has his team do a little bit of research of who’s this person who attended Dixon’s rally, they will be able to find my name right away easy on social media. Just Google it,” Othman said.
CBS didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.
