CNN Republican commentator Scott Jennings roasted late-night comedians for their obvious descent — fueled by President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide victory on Tuesday — into naked Democratic activism, arguing that “at some point, people might expect it to be funny.”
Jennings ripped into the comedians — name-dropping Jimmy Kimmel, who was brought to tears after Trump won — and argued that they were alienating half the country by telling them that only the Trump-hating people in their audience really mattered.
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"At some point, people might expect it to be funny": @ScottJenningsKY ROASTS late night Regime comics pic.twitter.com/AB9ngrInLq
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) November 12, 2024
Jennings noted that liberal comedian and HBO host Bill Maher — who has repeatedly swiped at his own side for going too far with regard to gender surgeries, COVID lockdowns, and more — seemed to understand that going all-in on activism instead of comedy — and in the process, potentially alienating half the country — was not the wisest course of action.
“The rest of these people have become pathetic. I mean, they stopped being comedians and they started becoming political activists. I mean, Jimmy Kimmel out here crying? I mean, it’s pathetic,” Jennings said. “And so my my question is, if you’re going to have a late-night comedy show, at some point, people might expect it to be funny and not just a constant political screed against one party, and I don’t — I don’t know that this activism for four more years is sustainable if you’re going to market something as comedy, but the actual product is nothing more than sort of a lowbrow political activism.”
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“These people represent the way a lot of people feel, so it’d actually be interesting if the Trump folks could actually make us feel like, ‘we’re not going to take away your rights,’ and that doesn’t make sense, you think it doesn’t make sense a lot of people actually think that makes sense. That’s the way a lot of people feel,” Touré protested.
“That is their audience,” CNN host Abby Phillip said.
“Is that their mission? To be activists and not comedians?” Jennings pressed.
“Well, sometimes the comedian does stop telling jokes and says serious things,” Touré replied.
Jennings pushed on, adding, “During the Biden years, there was nobody who provided more comedy fodder possible than Joe Biden.”
That was enough for the rest of the panel, who all began protesting at once that Biden had been on the receiving end of plenty of criticism and mockery.