Let's make like Steve Harvey
and get into the news. I, uh...
I actually feel bad for Steve Harvey, you know?
These days, whenever you see his name in the headlines,
it's because something went wrong.
Two years ago he accidentally crowned
the wrong Miss Universe on live TV.
He's constantly calling families to feud.
And last week was a double whammy.
Harvey's week off, uh, started... or, his week, rather,
started off with him being slammed
for making jokes about Asian guys being unattractive
in a segment on his daytime talk show.
And, uh, that wasn't even Steve Harvey's whole week.
Because after pissing off, uh, a whole ethnic group,
where does one go to find a sympathetic ear?
REPORTER:
right now. The president-elect making
an unannounced appearance at Trump Tower,
where he is standing with Steve Harvey.
REPORTER 2:
with Donald Trump to improve inner cities.
And you thought Donald Trump wasn't gonna do anything
for black people. Huh? Huh?
You
black person who meets with Trump
has that same "What the (bleep) just happened"
expression on their face.
Like...
As soon as... as soon as the cameras come out,
they all look like they've busted
on an episode of
No, it's not what it looks like, it's not what it looks like.
Now, as you can imagine,
any black person...
any black person seen to be rolling with Trump
knows they will be subject to the full fury of Black Twitter,
uh, which is why Steve was not ashamed
to justify his visit and, uh, drop names.
I was, uh, in-invited here
by the... both transition teams--
Obama's transition team and Trump's.
President Obama says you got to sit down and talk.
It's just me following, uh,
orders from my friend, uh, President Obama,
who said, "Steve, you got to..." as he told everybody,
"get out from behind your computer,
"stop tweeting and texting
and get out there and sit down and talk."
A-and O... and Obama told me to call that woman, honey.
Uh, Obama said I should...
I should talk to her in the club.
And Obama's why I drove that fast, officer.
He said... he said,
"Don't let anything stop you, keep going."
And-and... and Obama i-is... is just, like...
I like how Obama's become, like,
the "traffic excuse" of politics.
"Why are you doing..." Well, the Obama was so crazy yesterday,
I just had to... I had to do it.
Uh, so it was a really rough week for Steve Harvey.
I-I feel bad for him. He's a good guy.
But how you can defend yourself about this? How...
Uh-uh, uh-uh, I can defend myself, Trev.
-(cheering, applause) -Oh!
I can defend myself, boy.
It's Steve Harvey, everybody, it's Steve Harvey!
-Yeah. -It's Steve Harvey!
Mm-hmm.
What?
Now, you over here telling your little jokes about me,
but see, Trevor, you don't even understand how it went down.
Let me tell you how it went down.
You got to explain to these Africans real slow
how it go down.
I was minding my business at the dry cleaners,
'cause I dropped off my mustache to get cleaned up.
My phone rang, and it was-it was...
and I knew it was an important call,
'cause it was the
-(sings
Yeah. That's what I use on my phone. It was Obama.
I-I answered the phone... and Obama said,
"Steve, I need you to go talk to Trump."
Mr. Harvey, I-I hate to call you out,
but it sounds like you're trying to blame Obama for this.
Well, white folks blamed Obama for eight years.
I can't do it once?
So, wait, so, wait-- if Obama said jump off a building,
would you do it?
If it helped black people, yeah.
Still, hey, Trump... It-it hurts me that black people
think I don't care about 'em.
Every year I honor the best in black business.
I have a program that mentors children.
My mustache won three NAACP awards.
You see, this is... this is all it comes down to:
black people... black people, we-we got two choices,
black people, look:
either we meet this man and try to get something done
or we take four years off politics.
And I don't know about y'all, but Steve Harvey
don't take a day off. You better check your
I'm on four channels right now. (laughs)
Yeah.
-Ste-Steve, take-take a seat. -I'm on QVC,
I'm on damn ESPN Deportes.
Steve, Steve, I understand,
-I'm on all them channels. -I understand what you were
trying to do, but-but what do you say to the people
who are mad at you?
The hell you mad for?
I stood next to a man while he said dumb things.
My whole job is to stand next to people
while they say dumb things.
Name me something that has an eye but can't see.
-Tiger. -(applause)
Tell me a part of the body that begins with the letter T.
-Titties. -(bell dings)
Good sucker? (chuckles)
-Asparagus. -(applause)
-Seagull. -Good answer!
I could have said, "Do this, say that." I don't want that.
(bell dings)
Roy Wood Jr., everybody.
-Give it up for Roy Wood Jr. -(cheering, applause)
And by the way, by the way, Roy, by the way,
I can't front, man--
that's a pretty good Steve Harvey impression, man.
-The mustache does half the work. -Yeah.
Now, if Steve Harvey's way of dealing with Trump
isn't your flavor, we got the exact opposite way
of dealing with Trump this weekend from Georgia congressman
and civil rights leader John Lewis.
Do you plan on trying to forge a relationship
with Donald Trump?
It's gonna be very difficult.
Uh, I don't see this president-elect
as a legitimate president.
You do not consider him a legitimate president.
Why is that?
I-I think the Russians participated
in helping this man get elected.
And... and they helped
destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.
Uh, I don't plan to attend the inauguration.
Damn, John Lewis does not mess around.
I mean, I've heard of people turning down party invites,
but giving your reason as illegitimate--
that's gonna change Evites forever, people.
So... John Lewis
called Trump an illegitimate president.
And you know Trump--
I mean, he just lets that (bleep) slide.
Straight onto his keyboard.
MAN:
saying "Lewis should spend more time on fixing
"and helping his district, which is in horrible shape
and crime infested."
MAN 2:
No action or results. Sad!"
-(laughter) -I'm sorry. What?
All talk, no action?
You're calling a civil rights hero
who marched in Selma with Martin Luther King Jr.
all talk, no action?
Saying John Lewis isn't a man of action is like me saying
Donald Trump is all tax returns, no tweets.
(laughter)
(applause and cheering)
This man... this man got his head beaten in
on multiple occasions by racist policemen
who were trying to silence him in what he was doing.
That is action. I'm not gonna front.
If you smashed me over the head,
I would seriously reconsider
-whatever issue I was fighting for. -(laughter)
I'd be like, "I'm sitting in the front." Bap.
"You know what? The back's cooler anyway.
"It's where all the cool kids are.
"Rosa, you do you.
"I've got a one head-beating policy.
I'm out. I'm out."
A part of me thinks Trump didn't even know who John Lewis was.
I mean, this seems like it's just Trump's generic response
to any black criticism.
Any time black people criticize him, he's just like,
"Go back to your burning inner city."
You know, like, if Trump met a black astronaut,
I bet he'd be like, "Thank you for fighting crime
-in the burning inner cities of space." -(laughter)
"Space crime is a huge problem.
-Sad." -(laughter)
-But... -(applause and cheering)
But here's the thing. Here's the thing.
What Steve Harvey and John Lewis did this weekend
perfectly captures the debate
about how to respond to the Trump presidency.
Do you resist him, or do you work with him?
And this weekend, we saw examples of both.
And it's appropriate
that we're talking about this on Martin Luther King Day
because Dr. King also stood for both approaches.
Dr. King was out on the streets marching and boycotting,
but he also sat down to negotiate with those in power.
Yeah. And that's exactly what I was trying to do.
-(laughter) -That's what Obama told me to do.
What you just said-- that's what Obama...
CHIENG: Steve Harvey!
Oh, (bleep), It's Ronny Chieng, everybody. Ronny Chieng!
-(applause and cheering) -Wow. Ronny Chieng.
What's up?
Wow. What-what are you...?
What are you doing here, and why do you have a baseball bat?
You think it's funny
to perpetuate stereotypes about Asian men?
I will teach you about racial discrimination.
Now, which one of you is Steve Harvey?