U.S. communications watchdog investigating Stephen Colbert's Trump joke

Late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert might have to answer to broadcast regulators after making a controversial joke earlier this week about U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin.

The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission says the agency is looking into a number complaints about Colbert's opening monologue Monday night.

"I have had a chance to see the clip now," FCC head Ajit Pai told Philadelphia's Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.

"So as we get complaints — and we've gotten a number of them — we are going to take the facts that we find and we are going to apply the law as it's been set out by the Supreme Court and other courts, and we'll take the appropriate action."

Colbert faced backlash after unleashing a number of insults at Trump following the president's appearance on the CBS political news show Face the Nation. Trump referred to the program as "Deface the Nation" and later walked out on host John Dickerson during a weekend interview.

"You have more people marching against you than cancer," Colbert said on his talk show, which also airs on CBS. "You talk like a sign language gorilla that got hit in the head. In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's [bleep] holster."

The hashtag #FireColbert was trending on Twitter the next day, as the host was accused of obscenity and making a homophobic remark.

Pai, a known free-speech supporter who was appointed to the FCC by former president Barack Obama in 2012 and then elevated to his current position by Trump, says, if there is a violation, "a fine of some sort is typically what we do."

Colbert said on his show Wednesday he "would do it again" but "would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be."

"I just want to say, for the record, life is short," Colbert continued. "And anyone who expresses their love for another person, in their own way, is to me, an American hero."