Seth Meyers Slams President Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and "Powerful, Predatory Men"

Late Night host analyzes current events on Thursday's episode

By Samantha Schnurr Oct 13, 2017 2:32 PMTags

Seth Meyers has something to say about the country's powerful men. 

During Thursday's episode, the Late Night host dedicated his "Closer Look" segment to examining what he calls America's "toxic culture of male entitlement" in light of recent sexual misconduct and rape allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein," Weinstein's spokeswoman, Sallie Hofmeister, said in a statement. 

In discussing the subject, the host also referenced President Donald Trump's treatment of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria as well as his tweets this week about challenging network news' broadcasting licenses. 

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"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 said in his 10-minute monologue. "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," Meyers said of Trump. "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."

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"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," he said of Trump and Cruz. 

As for Weinstein, Meyers was critical of his personal statement, in which the producer said he "came of age in the '60s and '70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different," as well as recent reports that Weinstein is contemplating his comeback. 

"This entire ordeal is yet another window into the entitled mind of powerful, predatory men who are used to operating without consequence," Meyers added.

In closing, Meyers urged the country not to treat the issues at play as partisan ones, but rather, as problems everyone must address. "Women should not be held accountable for the predatory behavior of men," the host concluded. "This is a problem. With systemic misogyny and male entitlement and men need to speak up and address their complicity in the system that allows these things to happen."

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