Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee Create Ambien Ads to Explain Roseanne Barr’s Racist Side Effects
May 31, 2018Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee Create Ambien Ads to Explain Roseanne Barr's Racist Side Effects
"If you suddenly wake up and you're at a Klan rally, contact your doctor immediately … unless he's black, 'cause you'll probably just call him a monkey," Trevor Noah's fake Ambien ad warns.
Even though Roseanne Barr's tweet blaming both Ambien and Memorial Day for her racist comment about Valerie Jarrett has been deleted, its legacy lived on through late-night television Wednesday.
While most of the shows took the week off to celebrate the (non-racist) Memorial Day holiday, Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee offered fresh ads to help explain these newly discovered risks for the sleep-aid medication.
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On "The Daily Show," Noah wasn't at all surprised that ABC ultimately cancelled "Roseanne" in the wake of Barr's comment. "Let's be honest, comparing a black person to an ape is what I like to call 'shit-your-pants' racism," he said. "It's so obvious. It's obviously bad. Everyone can smell it, everyone can see it, and no one wants to help you clean it up."
Barr had tweeted that Jarrett was the result of the Muslim Brotherhood and "Planet of the Apes" having a baby. She later tried to write it off as a bad joke, but very few people were laughing, and certainly not ABC. The story has dominated the media all week, with Noah marveling that almost everyone seemed to agree that Barr had clearly crossed a line.
Noah then played back a clip for an Ambien commercial that addresses the "sudden racism" side effect Barr claims she experienced on the drug.
"Do not operate social media while taking Ambien, as it may lead to sitcom loss," the ad proclaimed. "If you must say the n-word, scream it into a pillow until the feeling passes. If Ambien is taken on Memorial Day, racist side effects are amplified for some reason. If you suddenly wake up and you're at a Klan rally, contact your doctor immediately … unless he's black, 'cause you'll probably just call him a monkey."
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"Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" offered up its own Ambien ad to really help people understand the potential racism dangers of taking this medication. "Until you know how Ambien will affect you, you shouldn't drive in urban areas, operate heavy machinery or visit a Starbucks," Bee's ad warned. "Don't take Ambien if you've ever asked, 'When will there be a white history month?'"
She even offered a "not-rare" list of side effects including: clutching your purse as a person of color walks by, deciding to move "up state," threatening to call ICE and sleepwalking to the Source Awards in search of a "black friend" to prove you aren't racist. You can check out Samantha Bee's ad in the video below.
Ironically, Bee found herself in a stinky pile of backlash Thursday for another joke in the episode, when she called Ivanka Trump a "feckless c–t," which White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders condemned as "disgusting" and called on TBS to "demonstrate that such explicit profanity about female members of this administration will not be condoned on its network."
Many critics are putting the use of the c-word on par with Barr's racist comment.
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