Actor and comedian D.L. Hughley is the latest guest host of The Daily Show, following well-received turns from Leslie Jones and Wanda Sykes over the past three weeks. Unlike his predecessors, however, Hughley had some serious news to cover on his first night on the job.
“I’m sure many of you have heard by now that a young Black man in Memphis was pulled over by the police, and we all saw how it went down,” Hughley said at the top of Monday’s (January 30) show before showing video footage of the police beating of Tyre Nichols, who died in hospital three days after the police encounter.
In many of the clips, cable news hosts referred to the incident as “shocking,” to which Hughley responded, “You know who wasn’t shocked by that? Black people. The only people who were shocked by that are people that haven’t been paying attention. But for us, that’s just like a flashback.”
The Hughleys alum said that the only thing “shocking” about the situation was “how fast those cops got arrested,” quipping, “They got arrested so fast they didn’t even give us time to riot!”
He then flashed the faces of the five Black police officers on screen, stating, “I’ve gotta wonder why. There’s something about them that looks fast-arrest-worthy. I can’t put my finger on it, but I want to arrest them myself.”
Later in the show, during a conversation with civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Hughley revealed a personal connection to the case, as his driver happened to be Nichols’ stepfather.
“They got fired, arrested, and charged in less than 20 days, so this is the blueprint going forward,” Crump told Hughley regarding the swift arrest of the officers. “They can not say any more to us, whether the cop is Black or white, when you see them on video committing a crime [or] using excessive force against us, that it takes six months, that it takes a year, no, you can’t tell us that anymore because we’re going to say, ‘Remember those five Black police officers in Memphis?’”
Hughley is one of several guest stars who will be hosting The Daily Show over the coming weeks following Trevor Noah‘s exit. Noah said goodbye to the late-night show in December as he turned his focus to stand-up comedy and traveling.
The Daily Show, Weeknights, 11/10c, Comedy Central
