On Saturday, Aziz Ansari hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live since President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday. The Master of None star is the son of Muslim immigrants from India and Aziz Ansari's SNL monologue gave the audience a lot of hope from that perspective. The comedian reflected on the likelihood of Trump watching the episode, complimented the turnout at Saturday's worldwide Women's Marches, suggested how TV can minimize Islamophobia, and supplied the audience with some optimism.
"If you're scared about Trump, you're going to be OK," Ansari said in his monologue. "Change doesn't come from presidents. Change comes from angry people. And if today is any indication, you are part of the largest group of angry people I have ever seen." The comedian, calling himself a "brown guy," though it was "pretty cool to know that he's probably at home watching a brown guy make fun of him." Ansari also called Trump the "Chris Brown of politicians," but cautioned the audience to not "demonize everyone" and not to judge Trump supporters "by their worst." He goes onto describe what he calls the "lowercase KKK movement," which he says consists of "a tiny slice of people fired up about the Trump thing for the wrong reasons" who have declared that they "don't have to pretend [they're] not racist anymore."
Ansari's message to them: "Whoa, whoa. If you're one of these people, please go back to pretending. I know it's been a rough couple of years: [President Barack] Obama, Empire, Hamilton. Just hit after hit." His proposed solution had him reminiscing about a post-9/11 speech made by George W. Bush about Muslims. "I think Trump should make a real speech denouncing the lowercase KKK. because these people are out there are really pissing people off," Ansari said. "What the hell has happened? Now, I'm wistfully watching old George W. Bush speeches."
The comedian later jokingly suggested a way to cut down on Islamophobia via pop culture. "People are scared, because any time they watch movies and tv shows, they show Muslims praying and that scary-ass music from Homeland is playing. Play another song!"
Watch the full monologue in the video below.
