Seth Meyers attacks Trump, Weinstein for ‘abusing their power to silence, bully, or coerce'
In his latest “A Closer Look,” Seth Meyers took on Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, “systematic misogyny,” and “male entitlement.”
On Thursday’s Late Night, the host used the long-form segment to discuss the sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein and the continued “bullying” by the president.
“This week, we’ve seen examples of powerful men at the highest levels of entertainment and politics from Harvey Weinstein to Donald Trump abusing their power to silence, bully, or coerce,” he opened. “And it’s a reminder that our toxic culture of male entitlement is still very much intact… Of course, we have a president who built his political career almost entirely on bullying. His campaign and now his presidency have been in many ways a performance of dominance, a performance that has in many cases been explicitly misogynist.”
Meyers’ most recent example is Trump’s treatment of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who he has said “is not a capable person.” The host opined, “This is what male entitlement looks like. A woman of color literally wading through flood waters to help her constituents being attacked by a powerful man so incompetent he probably floods his own bathroom because he forgets to turn the faucet off.”
Then, Meyers moved on to Weinstein, who in the last week has been accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape by a rapidly growing list of women. In response to actress Rose McGowan’s Thursday tweet that the producer raped her, a representative for Weinstein said in a statement: “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
“Women should not be held accountable for the predatory behavior of men,” concluded Meyers. “This is a problem. With systemic misogyny and male entitlement, men need to speak up and address their complicity in the system that allows these things to happen.”
Late Night airs weeknights at 12:35 a.m. ET on NBC.