CBS’s Stephen Colbert and NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers all spent part of their Tuesday shows falsely claiming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seeks to ban the teaching of history in the state as they reacted to different parts of the DeSantis-driven news cycle.
On The Late Show, Colbert began with his one of usual satirical sketches. This one was based on Disney losing its special status and included a narrator declaring, “We here at Disney Parks have received our marching orders and are thrilled to announce updates to our newly dewoke-ified magical kingdom. Visit the Hall of Presidents which will no longer include parts of American history Ron's supporters don't want to talk about.”
An animatronic Abraham Lincoln was then shown telling visitors, “I'm Abraham Lincoln. I established the Department of Agriculture. That's it.”
Before anyone could point out that teaching about slavery is not only not banned in Florida, it is required, the narrator continued, “And visit the Animal Kingdom where guests can now hunt. And that's not all. To make it overtly apparent which gender each of our park characters is, we ‘ve updated their costumes with realistic genitalia. Plus, we don't talk about Bruno because he was forced onto a plane and shipped off to Martha’s Vineyard.”
After a parody of “It’s a Small World,” that included the choir singing, “It’s a straight world after all. It is wrong to watch RuPaul,” the narrator concluded, “DeSantis World. It's supercalifragilisticexpiali-fascist.”
Later in the show, Colbert would call DeSantis a “big, dumb a-hole” and continuously get the name of his new book wrong in an attempt to mock its title for being boring.
Speaking of DeSantis’s book, over at The Tonight Show, the normally mild-mannered Fallon reported, “Some political news. Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis released his autobiography, The Courage to be Free. The book is already a number one bestseller, especially in Florida, where it's literally the only book on the shelf. It's the only thing here. In the book, DeSantis admits that he actually got married at Disney World. Seriously. That's like finding out Bernie Sanders got married in Jeff Bezos' backyard. It's like, come on.”
The former point is, again, not true and the latter point is not a dunk as Disney changed in the time since DeSantis got married.
Finally, over at Late Night, Meyers was having his “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell” segment where he sets up the joke and show writers Amber Ruffin and Jenny Hagel deliver the punchline that usually pokes fun at stereotypes about black people and lesbians respectively.
These jokes usually have nothing to with politics, but the duo of Meyers and Ruffin couldn’t resist getting in a shot at DeSantis as Meyers set the table, “February is black history month—” which led Ruffin to claim, “Which means in Florida, today it's January 59th. Hey, but really if you live in Florida and you want to read more about Black History Month, too bad.”
The three hosts may claim it these are just jokes, but misinformation in joke form is still misinformation and they can’t have it both ways as they are constantly condemning others for spreading misinformation.
All three shows were sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here are transcripts for the February 28-taped shows:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2/28/2023
11:35 PM ET
NARRATOR: We here at Disney Parks have received our marching orders and are thrilled to announce updates to our newly dewoke-ified magical kingdom. Visit the Hall of Presidents which will no longer include parts of American history Ron's supporters don't want to talk about.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: I'm Abraham Lincoln. I established the Department of Agriculture. That's it.
NARRATOR: And visit the Animal Kingdom where guests can now hunt. And that's not all. To make it overtly apparent which gender each of our park characters is, we ‘ve updated their costumes with realistic genitalia. Plus, we don't talk about Bruno because he was forced onto a plane and shipped off to Martha’s Vineyard.
SINGERS: It’s a straight world after all. It is wrong to watch RuPaul.
NARRATOR: DeSantis World. It's supercalifragilisticexpiali-fascist”
***
NBC The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2/28/2023
11:36 PM ET
JIMMY FALLON: Some political news. Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis released his autobiography, The Courage to be Free.
The book is already a number one bestseller, especially in Florida, where it's literally the only book on the shelf. It's the only thing here. In the book, DeSantis admits that he actually got married at Disney World.
STEVE HIGGINS: Ooh.
FALLON: Seriously. That's like finding out Bernie Sanders got married in Jeff Bezos' backyard. It's like, come on.
***
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
3/1/2023
12:42 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: February is black history month--
AMBER RUFFIN: Which means in Florida, today it's January 59th. Hey, but really if you live in Florida and you want to read more about Black History Month, too bad.
