NBC Late Night host Seth Meyers spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day attacking Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for having the audacity to quote King, accusing them of cherry-picking King's words and being hypocritical on civil rights issues.
Meyers first took a shot at all Republicans, "Well, today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means it's a day full of Republican politicians who support voter suppression efforts and have spent months fanning a crazed right-wing panic over so-called Critical Race Theory."
Singling out Youngkin for criticism, Meyers played a clip of him on Fox declaring that Virginians will learn both the good and bad parts of history, but that CRT is counter to what King taught, "we must judge one another by the content of our character, not the color of our skin."
In the past Meyers has accused those who want to CRT of wanting to ban the teaching of slavery but, instead of seeing the error of his ways, he declared, "It's like the only MLK line Republicans have ever read."
Later on in his diatribe, Meyers directed his ire towards Rubio. "Today, for example, Florida Senator Marco Rubio tweeted this deceptively quoted line from Dr. King's 'I have a dream' speech without any additional context. 'When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.'"
Meyers then mocked Rubio for the selection: "Did you read any further than that, or did you just pull up the text of the speech and do a control-F for 'Things that make it sound like he agrees with me'? 'Cause dude, you've got to read just like two more lines, and then you'll see that the rest of the quote says, 'This note was a promise that all men -- yes, black men as well as white men -- would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.'"
Nothing Meyers added discredits what Rubio tweeted, but Meyers, who has a habit of attacking Rubio in personal terms, insisted he's just a pretty-faced con artist:
Man, it's times like these that you just wish Rubio would go back to his old job as the picture that comes with the frame. I know they're liars and con artists, but Dr. King was essentially saying you made a promise and you didn't keep it, and Rubio just quoted the 'You made a promise' part that would be like quoting "Since U Been Gone," but not the chorus as Kelly Clarkson said, "And all you'd ever hear me say is how I picture me with you. That's all you'd ever hear me say.
Maybe Meyers is the con artist for thinking his views are synonymous with civil rights and for portraying himself as a comedian.
This segment was sponsored by Subway.
Here is a transcript for the January 18 show:
NBC
Late Night with Seth Meyers
12:41 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: Well, today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means it's a day full of Republican politicians who support voter suppression efforts and have spent months fanning a crazed right-wing panic over so-called Critical Race Theory, deceptively quoting Dr. King out of context, like the new governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, who signed an executive order banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory on his first day in office and then went on Fox News and quoted Dr. King.
GLENN YOUNGKIN: We're not going to teach our children to view everything through a lens of race. Yes, we will teach all history, the good and the bad, because we can't know where we're going unless we know where we have come from. But to actually teach our children that one group is advantaged and another is disadvantaged simply because of the color of their skin cuts across everything we know to be true in the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King ring in our ears that we must judge one another by the content of our character, not the color of our skin.
MEYERS: It's like the only MLK line Republicans have ever read. It's like how the only Chumbawamba song anyone knows is "Tubthumping," even though they have tons more. There's one where they get knocked down and don't get back up again it's super sad. Played it at my grandpa's funeral. See, this is what happens when you do a show in an empty apartment for a week. You forget how jokes go when they're in a room full of human beings with souls. Yeah, anyway, Republicans quote Dr. King the way Trump confidently dances to "YMCA" but doesn't seem to know anything about the Village People or the context of the song.…
MEYERS: And even when they do try quoting any other MLK line, they apparently can’t be bothered to read any further than the exact quote they’re looking for. Today, for example, Florida Senator Marco Rubio tweeted this deceptively quoted line from Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech without any additional context. "When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir." Did you read any further than that, or did you just pull up the text of the speech and do a control-F for "Things that make it sound like he agrees with me"? 'Cause dude, you've got to read just like two more lines, and then you'll see that the rest of the quote says, "This note was a promise that all men -- yes, black men as well as white men -- would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.” Man, it's times like these that you just wish Rubio would go back to his old job as the picture that comes with the frame. I know they're liars and con artists, but Dr. King was essentially saying you made a promise and you didn't keep it, and Rubio just quoted the "You made a promise" part that would be like quoting "Since U Been Gone," but not the chorus as Kelly Clarkson said, "And all you'd ever hear me say is how I picture me with you. That's all you'd ever hear me say.”
