Forehead bruised, Colbert now fighting 'face violence'

NEW YORK -- With a bruised forehead, Stephen Colbert has found a new cause celebre: fighting the glamorization of "face violence."

As he did after breaking his wrist last year, Colbert has transformed a real-life injury into a mock crusade. Colbert was injured Saturday, and while he's been cagey about the cause, he's made no attempt to hide the scarring between his eyebrows this week on "The Colbert Report."

In extreme close-up Monday, he detailed the wreckage: "What the hell is going on right here? What the hell did I do to myself on Saturday? I've got stitches up there and it looks like I'm growing a little map of Norway down the side of my face."

Colbert has declined to say how the injury happened. (His publicist and Comedy Central also declined to comment.) Instead, he has said what's important is his new responsibility to fight "face violence" in Hollywood films.

Last June, Colbert broke his wrist while running around his set before the taping of a show. The comedian went on to wage a months-long fight for "wrist awareness" and widely circulated "WristStrong" bracelets for the cause. (Proceeds for the $1 bracelets have gone to the Yellow Ribbon Fund, a charity that assists injured service members and their families.)

This week, Colbert has joked that after the wrist injury, he pledged he would never break a fall with his hands.

Colbert has claimed it could have happened by smashing watermelons with his head or by "practicing for a walk-on role in Cirque du Soleil and overestimating the number of French Canadians my forehead would support."