Today is Martin Luther King Day,
a day when America celebrates the legacy
of one of its greatest civil rights leaders
and a day where black people get to cut in line at Chipotle.
At least, that's my excuse.
But what is Martin Luther King Day,
and how should people celebrate it?
Well, for more on this, we turn to a man
who has had many dreams that no one wants to hear about.
Roy Wood Jr., everybody.
(cheering and applause)
-Hey. -Welcome, Roy. Welcome. Good to have you.
Good to see you. Good to see you, Mandela.
Look, MLK Day is a special day for America,
and it's a special day for me as someone who has been mistaken
for Martin Luther King Jr. many times.
(laughter)
(cheering and applause)
But...
But as we get further and further away from his life,
it's easy to forget what he was really about,
which means sometimes, people celebrate him
in a really (bleep)-up way.
So today, I'd like to show y'all
some of my favorite MLK (bleep)-ups, like this one.
NEWSWOMAN: The holiday didn't go as planned for some today.
A business in Duluth, Minnesota,
created controversy when promoting a sale
in honor of the civil rights leader.
The sign posted at the shop read,
"MLK Day sale.
25% off everything black."
But the owner says it was just misinterpreted.
25% off everything black. He was black. He was proud.
He looked good. We were celebrating that.
(laughter)
Are you serious?
For MLK Day,
25% off for black clothes?
What it should be is 100% off for black people.
Free at last, free at last,
pants, tops and coats are free at last.
(laughter and applause)
Yeah, Roy, you know, and what-what makes it worse
is that if you read Dr. King's speeches,
you'll see that he, like, he was opposed
to consumerism and wasteful capitalism.
That's right!
Celebrating MLK Day with a sale
is like commemorating
Samuel L. Jackson Day by whispering.
That's not what the man stands for.
It's not like in the middle of his "Mountaintop" speech,
Dr. King just broke off going,
"Remember me with savings too insane to be believed.
"I might not get to that store with you,
"but mine eyes have seen the power of the discount!
Come on, Coretta, let's roll."
You know, it-it actually... it actually is unfortunate,
because it seems like some white people
are out of touch with Dr. King's legacy.
Oh, it's not just a white thing.
In fact, Dr. King might actually be proud
that on his special day,
people of all colors and backgrounds
have been (bleep) up.
As we pause to honor Dr. King this year,
a flyer for a local event that bears his image
is causing quite a stir.
But as NBC25's Walter Smith tells us right now,
the party is now canceled.
The party promoters nowhere to be found.
This poster has a lot of people shaking their heads in disgust.
It shows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
wearing a gold chain, promoting a party
called Freedom to Twerk.
It was supposed to take place at this club,
but it's been canceled.
The owner says he's disgusted,
and there'll be no twerking here.
(laughter)
"There will be no twerking here"?
Sound like Gandalf in a Tyler Perry movie.
"There will be no twerking here!"
And then, you know,
the strippers fly all over the place.
And also, how are you gonna photoshop Dr. King
with gold chains to try and make him look cool?
He was already cool.
Look at the... look at these real pictures
of Dr. King from back in the day.
Look at him playing pool in a suit.
(cheering and applause)
In a suit, right, fresh from a march.
That shot's so cool, it doesn't matter if he misses.
And here he is making the library look cool.
Standing in front of books like they're stacks of money.
But this-this is my favorite Martin Luther King:
wearing sunglasses inside.
Trevor, he could have taken that call in private,
but he left the door open for the haters.
(laughter)
But maybe... maybe the most popular activity
on MLK Day is using his legacy to push your own agenda,
and no one has done it in a more interesting fashion
than this guy.
I believe that Gun Appreciation Day
honors the legacy of Dr. King.
And the truth is I think Martin Luther King
would agree with me if he were alive today
that if African Americans had been given
the right to keep and bear arms
from day one of the country's founding,
then perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter
in our history.
(groaning and laughter)
Okay, okay. Hold on.
I'm pretty sure on Dr. King's list of priorities,
giving slaves guns comes way below
not having slaves in the first place.
-The logic... -(cheering and applause)
The logic makes no sense.
This makes no sense. How would you do that?
Like, dude, do you think the slave owners
would have just had a little chitchat?
"Well, should we set them free?"
"Oh, no, don't set them free.
Let's make it interesting. Give them shotguns."
Now, I will say this.
If slaves did have guns,
the movie Roots would have only been 15 minutes long.
"Your name is Tob...
"Or whatever you want us to call you.
"That's cool. What is it, Kunta?
-Okay, we'll call you Kunta." -Okay, so, Roy,
we've seen people mess it up, you know, with sales
or, you know, with their own agendas,
but what is the proper way to celebrate Dr. King's legacy?
Listen, man, it's simple.
MLK was for racial equality, economic justice
and stood against the exploitation of the poor.
And he did so because he knew that one day,
our great nation would rise above bigotry,
injustice and poverty,
and, on that day, my friends,
there will be twerking for everyone, everywhere.
Roy Wood Jr., everybody.