Comedian Conan O’Brien went there. He highlighted an awkward moment at Fidel Castro’s funeral, something that the network morning newscasts on Monday wouldn’t touch: The Jeep carrying the dictator’s ashes broke down on Sunday, prompting soldiers to briefly push the vehicle down the procession route. ABC, CBS and NBC skipped that moment.
On TBS's Conan, however, O’Brien mocked the moment, making the obvious comparison to the problems of communism: “Here's a weird story: On Saturday, the hearse carrying Fidel Castro's remains broke down and had to be pushed. The hearse was being by driven Cuba's minister of metaphors."
Instead of mentioning the moment, NBC’s Today show on Monday mourned the “tears of sorrow and cries of patriotism.”
Today reporter Morgan Radford talked to one woman who cried, “I feel sad because I feel like I lose my father.” Another woman cheered, “His ideas will always be with us.” Radford closed by summarizing, “A final farewell to a leader with a complicated legacy.” What was that legacy, exactly? She didn't say.
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The AP, which did cover the Jeep breaking down, called the funeral a “near religious farewell.”
