
Laverne Cox is no stranger to The Daily Show, having guested on the program three times since 2016. But on Thursday, Cox made her debut in a new role: Daily Show Contributor.
In honor of Spirit Day—which GLAAD describes as “the world’s most visible anti-bullying movement inspiring LGBTQ youth, especially transgender and nonbinary youth to live their lives in their truth and authenticity”—the Emmy-nominated actor/activist delivered Thursday night’s “In My Opinion” commentary.
Cox commanded the stage for more than 10 minutes, where she promptly tore into Republicans who have chosen to weaponize transphobia in the fight to win back the White House.
“When you think of bullying, you probably think it’s happening in schools. And you’d be right,” Cox said, while a graphic declaring that 52 percent of LGBTQ youth enrolled in middle or high schools have reported being bullied. “But these days the bullying is also happening from people way more immature than teenagers: politicians,” she explained.
After a brief rundown of the more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been passed in the U.S. this year alone—including limiting what school teachers can say about gender identity, prohibiting gender-affirming care for kids under 18, and barring trans youth from taking part in sports—Cox pointed out just how much politicians can get done when they really put their minds to it.
“Great work, lawmakers,” she said. “Thanks for making sure schools don’t teach about sexual orientation or gender identity. Because pretending trans kids don’t exist means they disappear. Just like pretending climate change doesn’t exist means it disappears, too. So I guess we’ll never know why my t*ts are sweating in December.”
Cox’s evisceration continued on for the next several minutes—and she wasn’t afraid to name names when it came to the lawmakers who are fighting the hardest to push forth their anti-LGBTQ ideologies. Among them? Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which was particularly surprising to Cox. “The way that man rocks a pair of high heels, you’d think he’d be an ally,” she admitted.
Ultimately, Cox proposed that instead of dehumanizing each other we should “rehumanize” each other, and showed the audience how to do that by delivering a message directly to Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina Mark Robinson, whose recent porn-watching scandal included declaring his love of trans porn.
“I don’t see you as just another evil bigot who hangs out on NudeAfrica.com,” she said to Robinson. “I see you as a human being with needs and hopes and, yes, contradictions like the rest of us. And also the ability to type very astutely with only one hand.”
Given the audience’s raucous applause, something tells us it won’t be the last time we see Cox sharing her “Opinion” on The Daily Show—which is the same slot that Charlamagne tha God regularly occupies, and where Leslie Jones, John Leguizamo, and writer/comedian Ricky Velez have all taken turns at the mic this season.