As we've pointed out many times over the last year, Seth Meyers has quickly become one of the most exciting and interesting voices in late night television (with Samantha Bee now firmly holding a spot there as well). He continued to fine tune and hone Late Night with Seth Meyers, eschewing many of the late night staples like cue cards during interviews and even the traditional monologue, and now he’s made yet another unprecedented move: banning a major presidential candidate from appearing on his show.
During last night’s Late Night, on a recurring segment called “A Closer Look” that offers an investigative and/or editorialized take on a current event, Meyers covered Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump’s response to the horrific tragedy that occurred in Orlando over the weekend, as well as Trump’s unprecedented practice of revoking the press credentials of major news organizations with whom he disagrees (fun fact: not even President Nixon did this in the midst of Watergate).
In response to Trump banning the Washington Post from access to his campaign, Meyers said that in solidarity with the newspaper, Late Night would be banning Trump from appearing on its show as long as the Post ban stands.
“As for the Washington Post, we here at Late Night believe in freedom of the press and therefore have decided to stand in solidarity with them. So as long as the Washington Post is banned from Donald Trump’s campaign, Donald Trump will be banned from ever coming on this show.”
Curiously, this stands in stark contrast to Meyers’ old home, SNL, which made the controversial decision to have Trump host during this most recent season. But this is a bold and, from where I’m standing, admirable move on the part of Late Night. During political campaigns, major candidates are usually staples on the late night circuit in an effort to reach a broader audience, so for Meyers to ban one of the two candidates from appearing is huge.
Although Meyers was also quick to admit that Trump probably never would’ve appeared on the show regardless:
“Although to be fair, he wasn’t coming on anyway. Let’s be honest, he had no interest in being here.”
You can check out the full segment below.
