Stephen Colbert tears into Wall Street traders: ‘You’re all for unfettered capitalism – unless you lose!’

Stephen Colbert has weighed in on the stock war opposing Wall Street and Reddit, accusing Wall Street investors of “being all for unfettered capitalism – unless you lose”.

Colbert devoted part of Thursday’s episode of his Late Show to the ongoing face-off. The situation began when professional investors started banking on a drop for GameStop's stock. A Reddit community known as WallStreetBets has seen members encouraging one another to buy GameStop stock, therefore causing its value to increase spectacularly.

The move has resulted in losses on the Wall Street side. Professional investors, as The Wall Street Journal put it in a report cited by Colbert on his segment, “are reeling” – which did not jibe with the late-night host in the least.

Reacting to a Bloomberg report that “hedge fund titans [are losing] billions to Reddit traders running amok”, Colbert remarked sarcastically: “Oh, that’s terrible, those poor hedge fund managers. Now might be a good time to invest in whoever manufactures the world’s tiniest violins.”

Related: Follow our live coverage of the Wall Street-Reddit stock war

Later on in the segment, he mused that “Wall Street’s not happy” and “they think it’s unfair that someone else gets to bully people with piles of money”, adding: “Hedge funds have also been asking whether Redditors organising online like this could be considered market manipulation.”

“Oh, you’re all for unfettered capitalism – unless you lose!” he added. “Come on, guys, there’s no manipulation. This is just the invisible hand of the market extending you an invisible middle finger.”