Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah savage Eric Schneiderman, #MeToo hypocrite

(Image credit: Screenshots/Twitter/The Late Show, The Daily Show)

last updated 9 May 2018

On Monday night, The New Yorker published allegations from four women that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had physically abused them. "Schneiderman denied the allegations, saying, 'I have not assaulted anyone,' but then immediately resigned," Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's Late Show. "The women have accused Schneiderman of heinous acts of physical violence, but Schneiderman saw things differently," saying he just "engaged in role-playing and other consensual activity." Colbert wasn't buying it: "Oh, okay, role-playing: 'You be the damsel in distress, and I'll be the angry piece of garbage that causes you distress.'"

But it was the hypocrisy that poured fuel on the Scheiderman fire, given his lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein and advocacy for abused women. "Mr. Schneiderman, I think you misinterpreted the phrase #MeToo," Colbert said.

The push to hold powerful men accountable for abusing women "shows no signs of stopping," Trevor Noah said on The Daily Show. "Who knows, they might even get R. Kelly this year. You realize, he's been uncatchable for years — he's like the #MeToo's bin Laden." But the Scheiderman story is also getting so much attention because "he's one of the biggest opponents of President Trump's agenda," Noah said, "making it rain lawsuits all over Trump."

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Still, the hypocrisy is galling. "So it seems this guy was trying to put Harvey Weinstein in jail while he was abusing women himself," Noah said. "This is like finding out Robert Mueller has been taking secret vacations with Putin." He brought out Dulcé Sloan for her thoughts on "this insane issue," and she explained that Schneiderman "sounds like a monster, but in a way, he's still a champion for women," because "he pushed for tougher laws that are going to make it easier for us to throw his ass in jail. I wish every abuser would build a Wile E. Coyote trap for themselves." 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.