https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTi40ekUcV8
By now, every comedian with a late night talk show has had their chance to address Saturday’s terrible nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. Segments have ranged — in content and emotion — from John Oliver’s emotional “terrorist dipsh*t” speech and Samantha Bee’s angry anti-assault weapons screed, to Stephen Colbert’s spirited debate with guest Bill O’Reilly. Yet that’s just three such programs, and there are many more on broadcast and cable television who felt it necessary to give their audiences much of the same. Thankfully, Late Night host Seth Meyers skipped his now-typical desk monologue and instead co-opted his own “A Closer Look,” an otherwise serious-but-lighthearted approach to major news topics, to discuss Orlando. What resulted was a refreshingly calm take on the matter.
Yes, like Bee, Daily Show host Trevor Noah and many others, Meyers included many of the same talking points in his nearly six-minute video. Things like President Barack Obama’s comments from a PBS town hall two weeks ago that, in a sense, explained why the Orlando shooting suspect was able to legally purchase weapons in the United States despite federal authorities’ knowledge of possible terror ties. Yes, the Late Night host included clips from the media’s coverage of the political response to the shooting — especially Donald Trump’s self congratulations on Twitter after the suspect’s apparent allegiance to ISIL was reported.
Yet Meyers did it all without shouting, gesticulating or losing his cool demeanor in any way, shape or form. Of course, that’s not to say that one shouldn’t do any of those things when discussing the deadliest mass shooting in America’s history. However, Meyers’ professionalism stood out among a sea of passionate, but repetitive opinions offered these past two days. Like when, instead of twisting the Trump angle into a slew of jokes about the presumptive Republican nominee, the SNL alum instead emphasized those who deserved congratulations:
I don’t know who’s been congratulating Donald Trump, but you may want to redirect your congratulations to the first responders or those waiting in line to give blood. They’re the ones who deserve congrats and they’re not asking for it. I have a feeling Donald Trump’s not giving blood, and if he did, no one would want it because it probably looks like ectoplasm. So while there were some who were busy callously exploiting the tragedy to spread bigotry and misinformation, let’s keep in our hearts the victims and applaud those acts of love and humanity that poured forth in Orlando and across the country.
Okay, maybe there was one Trump joke thrown into the mix, but Meyers’ emphasis on the victims, first responders and those who donated blood received far more time.
