Samantha Bee isn’t happy with Jimmy Fallon and NBC’s lighthearted treatment of Donald Trump.
During her “Full Frontal” monologue on Monday night, the host called out Fallon for his chummy interview with the Republican presidential candidate and his employer for its tendency to go for ratings gold over substance.
“Why do so many Americans think playing footsie with fringe hate groups isn’t a disqualifier from polite society, much less the presidency?” Bee asked her viewers. “Maybe because that’s the message they get from entertainment giants like NBC.”
Bee said the network “tacitly condoned a race-baiting demagogue,” supporting Trump (and his NBC show, “The Celebrity Apprentice”) while he spewed birther theories about President Obama.
The talk show host also pointed out that it took his calling Mexicans “rapists” for NBC to cut ties with Trump in 2015. Even then, the network still invited the GOP candidate back to host “Saturday Night Live” a few months later, and, last week, to pal around with Fallon on “The Tonight Show.”
“I guess because ratings matter more than brown people,” Bee said. “Sure, he’s making life palpably dangerous for Muslims and immigrants, but, hey, he’s good entertainment!”
She then explained exactly why NBC would choose to bring Trump back onscreen: “Network execs and a lot of their audience can ignore how very dangerous Trump is, because, to them, he isn’t.”
“They’re not gonna be deported. They’re not gonna live under a president who thinks of them as a collection of sex toys. They’re not racist. They just don’t mind if other people are, which is just as bad,” she concluded.
Tell em, Bee!
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularlyincitespolitical violence and is a
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