Stephen Colbert has mocked right-wing truckers after a planned rally at the Washington Monument failed to materialise when just a handful of protesters showed up.
The National Parks Service had given permission for the demonstration at the Sylvan Theatre where organisers expected several thousand people would rally against Covid-19 mandates.
In the end, however, there was more press and police at the event than protesters.
“Where are the trucks?” organiser Kyle Sefcik asked during his speech.
“I know the ones that I had planned coming that are local friends and family, I know they’re not even allowed in because they need a commercial license and have proof of a checkoff today because of the checkpoints so they weren’t even able to stage and make it look cool here.”
Sefcik is an MMA fighter and independent candidate for governor in Maryland, and also the organiser of a caravan of trucks called the Freedom Convoy USA 2022, which was due to arrive in DC on Tuesday (1 March).
The Late Show host Colbert said people only wanted to go so they could do the honk honk gesture.
Colbert then rolled footage of the empty rally, saying: “You could’ve driven a truck through the place – if any had shown up.”
The host also ridiculed Sefcik for using a microphone for his speech when “there were 12 people there”.
