Whenever a big event or movement happens, late night TV talk show hosts usually spend their monologue talking about their feel on the matter, often trying to find the comedy within. With the social unrest, crystallized by the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests still ongoing, the focus across late night was to give black celebrities, entertainers and leaders the mic to express their own reactions to current events, share their experiences and highlight how it’s about time everyone acknowledged what they’ve known their entire lives.Head SNL writer and "Weekend Update" anchor Michael Che spoke to Seth Meyers about the conflicting feelings he harbors for police, as two of his brothers are in the NYPD, and yet, he admitted very frankly that he doesn’t feel comfortable calling the police for help.“I don’t think I’ve ever dialed 9-1-1 in my life,”
he told Seth, after a pause. “Because I have a feeling that they’re not for me. And it’s a really sad, unfortunate thing that you don’t realize until you come across people who don’t feel that way.” That packs a pretty meaningful punch if you've lived your life never questioning if the police will protect you.
Actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key expressed similar frustrations and sadness when speaking to James Corden on
The Late Late Show about how he reacted to the Black Lives Matter protests and
the unfornate looting that came out of them. “We were told that we’re all equal and we’re all going to have equal opportunities,” he said over video-chat from New York, a few blocks from the epicentre of the Manhattan protests. “And certain people found that doesn’t apply to them. And I think that is what is really getting everybody. There is this sense of anger. The American Dream was supposed to apply to all of us and it doesn’t apply to me.”Run The Jewels rapper Killer Mike
joined Stephen Colbert to talk about
his emotional speech last week at the Atlanta Mayor’s press conference where he said, as the son of a police officer, “We don't want to see one officer charged. We want to see four officers prosecuted and sentenced. We don't want to see Targets burning; we want to see the system that sets up for systemic racism burnt to the ground.”After naming several grassroots organizations that mobilize communities to work for change, he told Stephen, “There’s nothing wrong with the anger and emotion and passion overspill that we saw because that needs to happen, to ignite. But now that you’re ignited, I need you on a weekly and daily basis to join a grassroots organization wherever you are.”[video_embed id='1966986']RELATED: Tyrone Edwards shares why he can no longer remain silent about racism [/video_embed]
Late Night with Seth Meyers head writer Amber Ruffin
also gave a harrowing account of her experience with white police officers that speaks to the trauma black people face under white systems of power. CNN anchor Don Lemon spoke to Jimmy Fallon about
his infamous call-out last week of rich celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey, stating that when he asks people like them or someone of their stature to come on CNN, they are more worried about their brand than about speaking truth to power.Jimmy Fallon opted to speak truth to power, but this time it was directed at himself. After a 2000 SNL sketch
where he donned blackface to impersonate friend and SNL alum Chris Rock resurfaced last week, he eventually issued an
apology on Twitter, but last night he spent most of his monologue
addressing the shame he feels for his past mistake, but also how he, as a white man, needs to admit his blind spots and seek further education.“I realized that silence is the biggest crime that white guys like me are doing. Staying silent,” he said. “We need to say something... I realized I needed to get educated about how to stop the silence, and the fear of saying the wrong thing by not being silent.”[video_embed id='1969253']BEFORE YOU GO: Canadian writer Kathleen Newman-Bremang breaks down how you can be an effective ally[/video_embed]
