After President Donald Trump announced his plan to ban transgender people from serving in the military, the late-night hosts all criticized his decision during their Wednesday, July 26, shows.
The Celebrity Apprentice alum, 71, tweeted the news on Wednesday morning: “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in an capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.”
James Corden, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah all aired segments slamming the ban (Jimmy Kimmel and Conan O’Brien are off the air this week). See their commentary on the issue below:
James Corden
Corden performed a riff on Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E” and changed the song to “L-G-B-T” on The Late Late Show. He sang, “L, he doesn’t care for lesbians / G, he thinks two men should just be friends / B, to his dumb knowledge, is just a phase in college / T, he finds confusing so the army’s now refusing.”
He even included a few facts in the parody. “Transgender troops are not a huge expense. This ban only saves that budget .04 percent. How is there disruption worse than Trump’s corruption? Why’s it such a crisis? Thousands willing to fight ISIS.”
Seth Meyers
Meyers brought out four female Late Night With Seth Meyers writers to respond to the news. “You know what an all-volunteer military always needs, people who want to volunteer for the military,” one woman said, while another finished, “As opposed to people like you who got out of military service by saying they have bone spurs in their feet.”
They also poked fun at Ivanka Trump’s previous tweet that she’s proud to support the LGBT community. “I’m sure she’s going to give a speech any minute supporting trans people,” they joked before cutting to scenes of an empty podium.
Jimmy Fallon
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon host invited transgender comedian Patti Harrison on his show to discuss the ban. “I was shocked because I assumed he already did that,” Harrison said. “I don’t necessarily want to serve in the military, but I want the right to serve. It’s like I don’t want to go to your baby shower, but I want the invite. … And yet Trump says transgender people in the military would be a tremendous disruption, and I get it. If you constantly draw attention to yourself, spend all day distracting everyone and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, the perfect job for you isn’t the military, it’s the President of the United States.”
Stephen Colbert
The Late Show host spent nearly eight minutes slamming the new policy. “Why the hell would he do this? This wasn’t even one of his campaign promises,” he said. “What the hell does he think the ’T’ in LGBT stands for? Trump? Tomato? ‘I’d like an LGBT sandwich, hold the mayonnaise and no gay stuff, okay?’”
The CBS personality noted that Caitlyn Jenner tweeted her shock over Trump’s decision. “Caitlyn, I don’t know if I’m the first person to break this to you, but he’s a liar,” Colbert said. “I know he said he was your friend, but he was using you girl. You deserve better.”
Trevor Noah
During the Daily Show With Trevor Noah, the host blasted the POTUS’ early morning tweet. “That was before 9 a.m.,” he said. “You know, with Trump as president, you don’t even need a morning coffee. A little bit of him wakes you right up, takes you straight into it. And too much makes you s–t yourself.”
He played a montage of clips of Trump claiming to support LGBT rights. “Yeah, Donald Trump said he’d protect LGBTQ citizens, and actually, considering how many wars he’s gonna start, maybe he just did,” he quipped.
