Video: Stephen Colbert Won't Apologize To Trump Over Joke That Sparked #FireColbert Campaign

Stephen Colbert has been pretty fearless in excoriating Trump on network television night after night, a gambit that's given him a big late night ratings lead over Jimmy Fallon. But on Monday night, an oral sex joke he made about Trump and Putin triggered some backlash and a #FireColbert campaign, with Trump supporters and others threatening to boycott The Late Show's advertisers. But Colbert's not backing down—last night he addressed the controversy, noting that were he to do it over he might have said something a little less crude, but that he "would do it again."

Colbert unloaded on Trump on Monday after the President walked out of an interview with CBS Face The Nation host John Dickerson

, when Dickerson asked him about his unfounded claim that Obama had his 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower prior to the election. Colbert considers Dickerson a friend and he took the opportunity to "trade insults with the President of the United States," because, "When you insult one member of the CBS Family, you insult us all." You can watch the monologue below:

The whole thing was fairly typical Colbert fare, but Trump supporters thought at least one joke—"The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c— holster,"—went too far. Hence, the #firecolbert hashtag was born, with conservatives threatening to boycott CBS's advertisers until Colbert was kicked off the air.

(Slate notes that, "The outrage is thoroughly ironic and originated among embittered conservatives who felt that it was “about damn time the right started claiming pelts” for improper speech.")

There were also complaints the joke was homophobic:

Colbert didn't touch the controversy on Tuesday, but last night he finally addressed the backlash, joking about whether he still had a job ("Still? Am I still the host? I’m still the host!") and standing by Monday's monologue. "Folks, if you saw my monologue Monday, you know that I was a little upset with Donald Trump for insulting a friend of mine. So, at the end of that monologue, I had a few choice insults for the president in return. I don’t regret that," he said, adding, "I believe he can take care of himself. I have jokes; he has the launch codes. So, it’s a fair fight."

Still, though Colbert says he'd do it again, "I would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be," he said. "I’m not going to repeat the phrase. But I just want to say, for the record, life is short, and anyone who expresses their love in their own way, is to me an American hero. I think we can all agree on that.

"I hope even the president and I can agree on that. Nothing else. But, that."

And it looks like Colbert has at least one supporter over in Camp Trump: