Branson Invites Colbert to Host Launch Livestream

Richard Branson is going to space on Sunday—nine days before rival billionaire Jeff Bezos—and he's now lined up a celebrity host for the livestream. Branson invited Stephen Colbert to host the Sunday morning event after the late-night host joked on Twitter about not being invited on the Virgin Galactic flight, Mashable reports. Colbert also congratulated the company on launching Branson into space, joking, "Someone had to do it." He added: "I assume my invitation went straight into my spam folder."

"Sorry you can't join us this time," replied Branson, who has known Colbert for years, "but we’re going to livestream the launch on Sunday, and I’d be honoured if you’d host that for us!" Virgin Galactic says the livestream will begin at 9am Eastern on its website and outlets including its YouTube channel, reports Space.com. A similar invite from Bezos, a more frequent Colbert target, may be unlikely. Last month, Colbert joked that in "preparation for space flight, Bezos has asked his warehouse workers to show him how to pee discreetly into a tube." In 2018, he said Bezos' Blue Origin company had launched "the most phallic rocket ever created." (More Stephen Colbert stories.)