Late night talk show legend Jay Leno weighed in on former President Trump in a recent interview, telling U.K. journalist Piers Morgan he’s “not a fan” of the conservative leader.
Leno claimed he believed that Trump’s behavior is a “bit much,” though maintained he wouldn’t be too angry if Americans decided to vote for him again, as that’s their prerogative.
Speaking on the Fox Nation show “Piers Morgan Uncensored” on Thursday, the former “Tonight Show” host hit on the topic and then discussed how he stopped joking about politics.
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In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, comic legend Jay Leno declared hes “not a fan” of former President Trump. (1.Alexi J. Rosenfeld / Stringer 2. Rodin Eckenroth / Contributor)
Morgan broached the Trump topic, asking Leno what he thought of the man as a politician.
Leno replied, “Well, I’m not a fan.”
The comic quickly shared that he disagreed with individual states’ efforts to remove Trump from the ballot, telling the host, “I’m against that ’cause that could turn against you.”
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Morgan chimed in, stating, “It’s anti-democratic” and Leno agreed.
Still, the comic did not express rage over support for the former president like many of his other entertainment industry colleagues do. He noted that Americans have the right to pick Trump, if they want.
“If the people want that person as president, that’s fine. I mean, I’m not a fan, and it has nothing to do with politics,” he said, adding his opinion that Trump’s not “morally” the best choice for the job.
“I think we could do a little bit better. You know all these indictments, whatever it might be,” he said.
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Leno also noted why he doesn’t do political jokes any longer, claiming that people get angry if you don’t take their side on an issue. (Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal)
The comic told Morgan that he didn’t mind Trump so much back when he was only a real estate magnate and making guest appearances on his talk show. He said, “I liked him. He was fine. He was an interesting character.”
He went to talk about politics more generally, stating, “I just stopped doing politics in my act altogether. You know, when I did ‘The Tonight Show,’ the idea was you made fun of both sides equally…they’d both be angry. And I’d go, ‘Oh, that’s good.’ You know, they both think you’re supporting the other guy.”
However, Leno noted that the political climate has now changed to where people refuse to accept entertainers not picking a side. He added, “Now, you’ve gotta take a side and people are angry if you don’t.”
He observed that people now “want to know the punchline before – is this pro or against – you know? So I just, I just stopped doing it.”
“I just want people to come and laugh and have a good time. That’s the idea of doing a comedy,” he said, noting that injecting his political opinion is “useless.”
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