Larry Wilmore concluded Wednesday night’s episode of “ The Nightly Show” with a frank message: Alton Sterling did not deserve to die.
Wilmore’s opening monologue reflected on the headlines surrounding Sterling, a black Louisiana man who was fatally shot by police in Baton Rouge early Tuesday morning.
“Thank God for fucking cellphones,” Wilmore said. “Because we would never even hear about incidents like this otherwise.”
On Wednesday evening, reports emerged that cell phone video depicting the altercation between Sterling and police shows that the victim was not holding a gun during the incident. Police claimed that their body cameras fell off during the struggle.
“Fell off! Things don’t just fall off unless you’re talking about Sisqo and the face of the fucking earth,” Wilmore joked.
The host also took on pundits who claim that they believe “all lives matter.”
“If you really believe in all lives matter, then you should be out there protesting,” Wilmore said.
Wilmore picked up the most momentum when he turned to the shooting of Sterling:
No matter what his crimes were, Alton Sterling did not deserve to be executed for them. Look guys, the punishment for resisting arrest shouldn’t be death. The punishment for selling bootleg CDs shouldn’t be death. The punishment for having a gun in an open-carry state shouldn’t be death. The punishment for being a black man shouldn’t be death.
Sterling is the 558th person to be shot and killed by police this year.
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