NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers writer Jenny Hagel and CBS The Late Show host Stephen Colbert reacted to the shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub that left five dead by making sure they mentioned every possible left-wing cliché by blaming everything from gun culture, the Supreme Court, unhealthy concepts of masculinity, homophobia, transphobia, to conservatives.
Meyers himself did not talk about the shooting as part of his usual diatribe against Republicans, but welcomed writer Jenny Hagel, who is gay herself, to give her own thoughts. Hagel began by implausibly suggesting social conservatives control the culture:
When I read the news about Colorado on Sunday morning, I was shocked. But also, I wasn't shocked because sadly, our culture is filled with messages that there is something wrong with queer people. That we are at best weird, and at worst, sick and those messages, whether it's something small, like telling a little boy he can't wear nail polish, or something big, like passing a law that says queer people can't adopt children, they all contribute to the dehumanization of queer people and once a group of people is seen as less than human, it's easy to hurt them.
People who do not want their children taught about the 58 alleged genders are not responsible for a mass shooting. That’s insane, not “dehumanizing,” and ultimately just a not-so clever way to try to shut people up.
Briefly switching topics, she declared, “I'm sure that for many, what happened in Colorado will be seen as the result of our nation's obsession with guns, and that's part of it, for sure,” before switching back to “our culture's deep-seated homophobia and transphobia, our unhealthy relationship with masculinity, and our nation's tendency to allow religion to be used as a cover for prejudice.”
Hagel also found a way to include, “the way our nation's history of racism intersects with and compounds all those things. Now, that's a lot to untangle, and I don't know how to do it.”
Earlier, on his show, Colbert longed for gun control, “Why do we constantly have to have ‘heroic patrons,’ or ‘heroic teachers,’ or ‘heroic bystanders’? How about some heroic politicians who will do anything about the epidemic of gun violence in this country?”
Zeroing in on the Second Amendment specifically, Colbert continued, “or a heroic justice system that stops a dangerous person like this with a history of violence from getting access to these weapons of war? Or how about--how about-- a heroic Supreme Court that recognizes that, however you want to interpret it, the Second Amendment, as it is currently applied, is a complete failure?”
Before anybody could object by pointing out Colorado has some of these laws he supports, Colbert moved on, “But ultimately, ultimately, it's going to take heroic voters, who will toss out the people who cynically target marginalized communities for their own political gain and then take money from these ghoulish weapons manufacturers who profit off of fear so that the rest of us, every week, need to honor a new group of heroic patrons.”
Blaming people other than the shooter for mass shootings and calling a part of the Bill of Rights a failure is not the best way to convince people to vote for your preferred candidates, but that won’t stop Colbert from trying.
Late Night was sponsored by Oral-B and The Late Show was sponsored by Energizer Batteries.
Here are transcripts for the November 21-taped shows:
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
11/22/2022
12:39 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: Before we move on, we would like to take a moment, this weekend, five people were killed and many more were injured when a gunman opened fire at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, and to the entire LGBTQ community one of our writers, Jenny Hagel, is gay, and she's here to comment.
JENNY HAGEL Thanks, Seth. When I read the news about Colorado on Sunday morning, I was shocked. But also, I wasn't shocked because sadly, our culture is filled with messages that there is something wrong with queer people. That we are at best weird, and at worst, sick and those messages, whether it's something small, like telling a little boy he can't wear nail polish, or something big, like passing a law that says queer people can't adopt children, they all contribute to the dehumanization of queer people and once a group of people is seen as less than human, it's easy to hurt them.
I'm sure that for many, what happened in Colorado will be seen as the result of our nation's obsession with guns, and that's part of it, for sure. But it's also the result of our culture's deep-seated homophobia and transphobia, our unhealthy relationship with masculinity, and our nation's tendency to allow religion to be used as a cover for prejudice.
And the way our nation's history of racism intersects with and compounds all those things. Now, that's a lot to untangle, and I don't know how to do it. So, instead, I just wanted to say that despite the millions of voices in our culture saying that there is something wrong with queer people, that we're sick or deviant or predatory or just a little off, we are totally, 100 percent normal.
We live the same way that everyone else does we want the same things. We are great in the same ways and boring in the same ways. We're just regular people. If you're queer, I wanted to say that I see you, and I'm grieving with you and in this week of giving thanks, one thing I'm deeply, deeply thankful for is the LGBTQ community.
And if you're queer but you're not out because you don't feel ready to be or because it's not safe for you to be, I see you, too, and I think you are great and perfect just the way you are. Nothing about us needs to be fixed, but there is something in America that desperately needs fixing, and I hope we figure out soon how to do it. Thank you.
***
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
11/21/2022
11:55 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Why do we constantly have to have "heroic patrons," or "heroic teachers," or "heroic bystanders"? How about some heroic politicians who will do anything about the epidemic of gun violence in this country?
Or--or a heroic-- or a heroic justice system that stops a dangerous person like this with a history of violence from getting access to these weapons of war? Or how about--how about-- a heroic Supreme Court that recognizes that, however you want to interpret it, the Second Amendment, as it is currently applied, is a complete failure?
But ultimately, ultimately, it's going to take heroic voters, who will toss out the people who cynically target marginalized communities for their own political gain and then take money from these ghoulish weapons manufacturers who profit off of fear so that the rest of us, every week, need to honor a new group of heroic patrons.
