CBS’s After Midnight is sold as a different kind of late night comedy show. Host Taylor Tomlinson typically guides her guests in various internet content-inspired improv question and answer games, but on Monday she began like a typical late night host and gave a monologue in defense of President Joe Biden’s stance on abortion while attacking Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s recent commencement address to Benedictine College.
Tomlinson began by misrepresenting the most talked-about portion of Butker’s remarks, “The biggest story over the weekend was the social media uproar over the commencement speech given by Kansas City Chiefs kicker, Harrison Butker.”
After some booing from the audience, she continued, “Hey, this is an important story to know if you want to fight with your dad this week. In it, he said that women should focus on being wives and mothers instead of having careers.”
Butker never said women shouldn’t have careers, as Tomlinson’s clip showed, “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children he will bring to this world. I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabel, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.
Tomlinson reacted, “Wow, I can't believe a guy who kicks for a living had a bad take. First off, he said 'vocation' so many times there's no way he didn't just learn that word. He praises his wife, who he met in band class in middle school. This speech upset me because as a girl who played clarinet for six years, that could have been me. Once I get a football player to bang me, I will ditch this TV show so fast. I’m serious. I'm only killing time until ‘My life truly begins.’”
If Tomlinson wants to criticize Butker for glossing over the fact his wife can more easily afford to be a stay-at-home mom than the average mother because he makes millions of dollars being a professional football player, that would be one thing, but it is not an excuse to misrepresent what he told the graduates.
She also lamented, “A lot of people are focusing on the homemaker part and not the pro-life and homophobia parts.”
Butker was shown speaking about Biden and Pride Month, “He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure it appears that you can be Catholic and pro-choice [jump cut] Not the deadly sin sort-of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.”
Again, Tomlinson reacted as if Butker was just some cranky old man, “Yeah. So we can't be gay, we can't have jobs, we can't have abortions. Who is this guy, my uncle at Thanksgiving?”
Tomlinson has always had a bit of a Freudian sense of humor, but thus far, she hasn’t really merged that with politics or religion in the way some others have. That has started to change over the last couple of episodes and now with the added monologue, she risks becoming just like the other late night hosts. Additionally, After Midnight is produced by another supposedly devout Catholic: Stephen Colbert.
Here is a transcript for the May 20-taped show:
CBS After Midnight
5/21/2024
12:38 PM ET
TAYLOR TOMLINSON: The biggest story over the weekend was the social media uproar over the commencement speech given by Kansas City Chiefs kicker, Harrison Butker. Hey, this is an important story to know if you want to fight with your dad this week. In it, he said that women should focus on being wives and mothers instead of having careers.
HARRISON BUTKER: Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children he will bring to this world. I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabel, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.
TOMLINSON: Wow, I can't believe a guy who kicks for a living had a bad take. First off, he said "vocation" so many times there's no way he didn't just learn that word. He praises his wife, who he met in band class in middle school. This speech upset me because as a girl who played clarinet for six years, that could have been me. Once I get a football player to bang me, I will ditch this TV show so fast. I’m serious. I'm only killing time until "My life truly begins." A lot of people are focusing on the homemaker part and not the pro-life and homophobia parts.
BUTKER: He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure it appears that you can be Catholic and pro-choice [jump cut] Not the deadly sin sort-of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.
TOMLINSON: Yeah. So we can't be gay, we can't have jobs, we can't have abortions. Who is this guy, my uncle at Thanksgiving?
