Brian Williams celebrated his 10th anniversary as anchor of NBC Nightly News by joining Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show to “slow jam” the news.
You can watch the video if you want to see the sexuallythemed segment that includes a double entendre about the president masturbating — I’ll warn you that it’s pretty raunchy.
But let’s talk about the lines Brian Williams crossed as a “real” journalist, celebrating his big anniversary by defending the president’s executive action on amnesty and mocking Republicans for trying to stop him.
“President Obama has been firm in his position: ‘If you want me to stop taking executive action, you’ve gotta pass a bill,'” jammed Fallon.
Brian Williams shouted into the microphone: “My prez Obama don’t want none until you pass a bill, hon!”
“We’re going to need more compromise on Capitol Hill,” Williams said.
Fallon added, “The time has come! Together we’ll pass this bill!”
“The system is broken. The president’s spoken. There’s still no solution. Man, you must be jokin’. The American Dream ain’t just for the few,” Roots band member Black Thought rapped to end the segment.
Hilarious.
Aside from the 8th grade locker room humor that will appeal to snickering teenagers, is there anything remotely funny or entertaining about this? Do people really tune into the Tonight Show for a sanctimonious lecture about immigration reform? Besides, I thought these entertainrants were Jon Stewart’s turf.
Sure makes you miss Jay Leno, doesn’t it?
A while back I read a lengthy report about how Vladimir Putin and the Russian government have managed to create a fusion of entertainment and news so seamless that most Russians cannot distinguish between the two. It’s been a very effective propaganda tool for the Russian government — unprecedented because of the way they’ve been able to harness both reality TV and the power of new media to promote approved government messages.
Though I won’t go as far as to say the government is behind messages like Fallon’s immigration reform entertainrant, it’s fair to say that Americans are becoming increasingly comfortable with the lines being blurred between entertainment and news, between truth and make-believe.
And it’s a very dangerous trajectory.
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