Stephen Colbert immortalized (sort of) by Shepard Fairey
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Stephen Colbert, the faux-conservative Comedy Central commentator, is heading to Vancouver for the Olympics, where he is expected to report on various competitive events including hockey and speedskating.
To commemorate the visit, artist Shepard Fairey has created a poster immortalizing the TV personality in an appropriately faux-gung-ho pose.
The poster, which Colbert has made available on his website and is asking fans to post all over Vancouver, depicts the comedian wearing laurels and wielding an Olympic torch while riding a giant bald eagle.
On the website, Colbert exhorts people to ‘help spread the word about his historic visit to Canada’ and to download the Fairey poster and ‘post it all over Vancouver!’
He also announces that he will be holding a live event in Vancouver at Creekside Park at 1455 Quebec St. on Wednesday and Thursday at 9:15 a.m.
In the fall, Colbert helped to raise money for the U.S. Olympic speedskating team after one of its sponsors, Dutch Bank DSB, went bankrupt. The comedian has since appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in skin-tight speedskating apparel.
Colbert’s tongue-in-cheek mocking of Canadians has raised some eyebrows in the sports world and has even prompted U.S. speed skater Shani Davis to call the comedian ‘a jerk.’ The two reportedly made amends after taping an episode of ‘The Colbert Report’ in December.
No stranger to controversy, Fairey is embroiled in a fair-use legal battle with the Associated Press centering around the Los Angeles artist’s ‘Hope’ poster of Barack Obama.
-- David Ng
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