Stephen Colbert divides after backtracking on controversial Kate Middleton comments

Stephen Colbert has divided fans after backtracking on his controversial comments about Kate Middleton after the Princess of Wales announced she was diagnosed with cancer.

The Late Show host addressed the public scrutiny surrounding Kate's 'disappearance' from the public eye earlier this month as she had barely been seen since Christmas.

Kate shocked royal fans on Friday when she shared the news that she had been diagnosed with cancer following her "major abdominal surgery" in January. She revealed that while they believed the issue was non-cancerous, tests "found cancer had been present".

Colbert spoke about the affair rumours after referencing the fact that social media users are theorising that Kate has been hiding from the public eye because William has been cheating on her. Of course, these are simply rumours and not proven to be true.

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The late night host poked fun at Kate's disappearance, saying at the time, "The kingdom has been all a flutter by the seeming disappearance of Kate Middleton. Well now, internet sleuths are guessing that Kate’s absence may be related to her husband and the future King of England William having an affair."

The host gasped and sarcastically added, "Oh no, my heart goes out to poor Kate."

During Monday night's show, Colbert addressed his previous comments, saying, "We do a lot of shows. I tell a lot of jokes. I tell jokes about a lot of different things, mostly about what everybody is talking about."

"For the last six weeks to two months, everybody has been talking about the mystery of Kate Middleton’s disappearance from public life. Two weeks ago, we did some jokes about that mystery.

"When I made those jokes, that upset some people … even before her diagnosis was revealed. I can understand that a lot of my jokes have upset people in the past and some of my jokes will upset people in the future, but there’s a standard that I try to hold myself to, and that is I do not make light of somebody else’s tragedy."

He continued, "I don’t know if her prognosis is a tragic one … regardless of what it is, far too many of us know that any cancer diagnosis of any kind is harrowing for the patient and for their family.

"Though I’m sure they don’t need it from me, I and everyone here at The Late Show would like to extend our well-wishes and heartfelt hope that her recovery is swift and thorough."

Social media users slam Colbert's 'apology'

Social media users were quick to slam Colbert's statement, saying he hadn't actually apologised for the comments.

"They tried to get Stephen Colbert to apologize and he didn’t! He sent wishes of health and healing," one user said.

"Could Stephen Colbert be [any more] of a jerk???" another said. "This is misleading rambling, NOT an apology of any kind."

"How do you sleep at night?" a third questioned.

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Others defended him, with one user writing, "Stephen Colbert handled this very well. And I’m glad that he didn’t apologise for his jokes. Because he doesn’t need to. Joking about public figures and what’s happening in the news is part of being a late night host."

"I completely agree," another said. "He was making the type of jokes that he would make about any celebrity/celeb news before he knew the breadth of the situation. Anyone who’s watched him knows that he’s not the type to be malicious with his humour."

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