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Aziz Ansari's Excellent SNL Monologue Addresses New Trump Order
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 22, 2017
Modified Jan 22, 2017
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 22, 2017
Modified Jan 22, 2017
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Saturday Night Live host Aziz Ansari addressed the pain of Donald Trump's new presidency during his monologue, and elegantly, effectively and hilariously addressed fears and the new "casual white supremacy" that has emerged. Ansari referenced the women's marches all over the world, "Yesterday, Trump was inaugurated. Today, an entire gender protested against him," and also added, "Pretty cool to know, though, he’s probably at home right now watching a brown guy make fun of him though, right?"
Just as Dave Chappelle helped put things in perspective with his monologue during the SNL right after the election (of Trump's surprising win, given the polls, "I know the whites, you guys aren't as full of surprises as you used to be"), Ansari made some great points, like how Islam wouldn't seem so scary to people if "Yakety Sax" were the soundtrack to news stories about Muslims and how he really wants all these new racists—the "new, lower-case K.K.K. movement"—who have emerged to go back to pretending they aren't racist anymore. "I’m so sorry we never thanked you for your service. We never realized how much effort you were putting into the pretending. But you gotta go back to pretending."
Last year, Ansari wrote a NY Times op-ed about how the possibility of President Trump was frightening to him, given that Trump would want to ban Muslims like Ansari's parents. He said last night:
I’m talking about these people that are running around saying stuff like, “Trump won! Go back to Africa!” “Trump won! Go back to Mexico!” They see me: “Trump won, go back — to where you came from.”
Yeah. They’re not usually geography buffs.
Is that the plan, by the way? We’re all going to move? All the minorities? Forty-some percent of the country? Every minority’s going to move?
Beyoncé’s going to move? Beyoncé ain’t moving.
I ain’t moving. Okay? My parents moved from India to South Carolina in the early ’80s. They didn’t move until nine years ago. You know where they moved? North Carolina. They love it here. They’re not leaving.
Suggesting that Trump make a "real speech" instead of Tweeting how much SNL sucked, Ansari referenced how President George W. Bush, after 9/11, managed to bring the country together in a speech (video) by saying, "Islam is peace." "I was sitting there and I’m watching this speech and I’m like, 'What the hell has happened? I’m sitting here wistfully watching old George W. Bush speeches?'" Ansari recalled. "Just sitting there like, 'What a leader he was!' Sixteen years ago, I was certain this dude was a dildo. Now, I’m sitting there like, 'He guided us with his eloquence!'"
He ended, "I want to leave you guys with a serious thought. I know there’s a lot of people that are worried right now. This is a weird time. If you’re excited about Trump, great. He’s president. Let’s hope he does a great job. If you’re scared about Trump and you’re very worried, you’re going to be okay, too. Because if you look at our country’s history, change doesn’t come from presidents. Change comes from large groups of angry people. And if Day 1 is any indication, you are part of the largest group of angry people I have ever seen."
Tagged
aziz ansari
president trump
saturday night live
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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