COLBERT, Ga. — TV host Stephen Colbert is just a bit too edgy for another Colbert to play host to him.
Town leaders in Colbert, Ga., have decided not to invite the comedic newsman from "The Colbert Report" to their Fourth of July festivities.
A communications professor at Gainesville State College's Oconee campus, Preston Coleman, had given the Colbert City Council a petition signed by 499 people. It asked for an invitation for the Comedy Central host and for the town to temporarily change the pronunciation of its name from "cull-bert" or "call-bert" to "cole-bear" -- as Stephen Colbert pronounces his name.
The petition attracted attention on the Internet, including the website of "The Colbert Report."
Mayor Chris Peck said the council in the town of 500 didn't warm to the idea.
"His satire is probably something that we didn't feel suited our small-town atmosphere," Peck said.
In the past, the town has had "Hee Haw" star Archie Campbell and fertilizer salesman-turned-comedian Jerry Clower for its Fourth of July events.
"We're not above taking a joke," Peck said. "I just don't think the Fourth of July as the appropriate venue for that."
Coleman told the Athens Banner-Herald that the petition started as a class project on the Internet's influence on civic activism.
"I very much respect the perspective of the citizens of Colbert, but I still believe it would be a very good thing for the town and no harm would come of it," Coleman said.