Moments before bringing on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for two casual segments of softball questions, Late Night host Seth Meyers took a shot at Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in his monologue by comparing him to members of the KKK following Scalia’s comments on Wednesday about affirmative action.
With the Court hearing a case on affirmative action, Meyers butchered Scalia’s argument concerning African-American students being accepted to schools they otherwise wouldn’t have been accepted to if it were not for their race: “Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that black students thrive when they are in a less advanced school, a slower track school, where they do well.”
Meyers then uttered the punchline before replacing a picture of Scalia with one of a KKK member in their white robe: “Though black students say it's not the worst thing they've ever heard from a guy in a robe.”
When the audience gasped at the comparison, Meyers tried to diffuse things by furthering quipping: “Oh, did you think that was a ghost and that's why you all made ghost noises? Oooo!”
Moving on from the KKK comparison but not from bashing Scalia, Meyers brought up how Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid took to the Senate floor to publicly rebuke him: “Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid today called Antonin Scalia’s claim that black students do better in lesser schools racist. I agree. Everybody does better in lesser schools.”
For the second punchline, Meyers went after Arizona State University since his head writer went to archrival University of Arizona: “In fact, it's Arizona State's motto. [LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE] I should note our head writer went to Arizona. That's why we end up with jokes like that.”
Of course, here’s what Scalia actually said:
There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a slower track school where they do well. One of the briefs pointed out that most of the black scientists in this country don't come from schools like the University of Texas. They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they're being pushed ahead in classes that are too fast for them.
Needless to say, much of the liberal media has spent chunks of the past 48 hours worked up over Scalia’s comments, so it was only a matter of time before the late night comedians got in on the action too.
The relevant portion of the transcript from NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers in the early hours of December 11 can be found below.
NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers
December 11, 2015
12:39 a.m. Eastern
SETH MEYERS: During oral arguments in a case about college affirmative action yesterday, the Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that black students thrive when they are in a less advanced school, a slower track school, where they do well. Though black students say it's not the worst thing they've ever heard from a guy in a robe. [AUDIENCE GASPS] Oh, did you think that was a ghost and that's why you all made ghost noises? [LAUGHTER] Oooo! Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid today called Antonin Scalia’s claim that black students do better in lesser schools racist. I agree. Everybody does better in lesser schools. In fact, it's Arizona State's motto. [LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE] I should note our head writer went to Arizona. That's why we end up with jokes like that.
