Did Stephen Colbert just get away with calling the Gates Foundation a ‘slut factory?’
Last night the cantankerous faux right-winger took aim at Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on The Colbert Report. Gates appeared on Colbert to talk foreign aid, especially the Foundation’s new initiative to make contraceptives more widely available for nearly 120 million people in developing nations.
“But it’s a wildly controversial stance because you know from the culture wars in the United States, if you are in favor of contraception you are automatically a slut,” Colbert said. “Aren’t you afraid that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be thought of as a slut factory?”
Gates laughed off Colbert’s jabs and his plays for Gates’ money to fund his Super PAC (he asked her for $100 million), saying that most Americans find contraceptives “morally acceptable” and there are options for everyone, including Catholics. (Colbert: “What about abstinence? Because that’s very cost effective. Because it costs nothing, and it’s not effective.”)
“One of the great things we’re finding out about aid and foreign assistance is that when you get people on the path to self-sustainability, they will lift themselves up,” Gates told Colbert. “I just want to make sure we’re a part of giving people what they need to lift themselves up.”
Gates appeared on Colbert in advance of a Family Planning Summit to be held in the UK on July 11, where the Foundation plans to raise $4 billion.
Here’s the Colbert clip:
The Colbert Report
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