Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and Trevor Noah can't agree about that Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad
Stephen Colbert kicked off Wednesday's Late Show with Bill O'Reilly's $13 million sexual harassment "pickle." Advertisers are bailing, but "today Donald Trump got his back," saying in an interview, "I don't think Bill did anything wrong,'" Colbert noted. "Mr. President, I want to remind you, you just declared April sexual assault awareness month. And there's two accusations of sexual assault I'm aware of: Bill O'Reilly's, and yours."
"Maybe you're not the perfect person to weigh in on this one," Colbert said, but Ivanka Trump, with her "enlightened approach to these issues," might do. Or not. He played the clip of Ivanka defining-down "complicit" on CBS This Morning. "Nope, that's not what complicit means," he said, breaking out a dictionary. "You can't just reverse the definition to make yourself sound better. That's like saying, 'If being a Nazi means fighting for civil rights, then yeah, I'm a huge Nazi.'"
Colbert finally got to the big news of the day. "We have a deeply divided nation," he said, "but today it seems like everyone has come together to join the protest against the new protest ad from Pepsi." He walked everyone through the defunct ad, which starts with a generic protest march. "So far, we don't know what has caused all of America's hot extras to take to the streets — but I'm guessing it's a protest for Attractive Lives Matter," Colbert said. Then one of the Kardashians leaves a photo shoot to join in. "Once Kendall Jenner has made the ultimate sacrifice of wiping off her lipstick, it's super fun — until the march meets the world's least-intimidating police force," he narrated. "They're also extremely attractive — watch out, Kendall, those unarmed cops might start stripping." He ended with a riff on the ad's tagline: "'Live — for now,' especially if you're Pepsi's marketing department, because I don't think you guys are going to be there for long."
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At Late Night, Seth Meyers also panned the Pepsi ad, showing a much darker alternative ending.
But at The Daily Show, Trevor Noah is more understanding. "To be honest with you guys, I don't understand why Pepsi got hammered so hard," he said. "In fact, I think all brands need to become more woke." He provides some suggestions. You can watch below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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