Seth Meyers will open Thursday night’s Late Night with Seth Meyers with a solemn statement addressing the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the broader rise in political violence across the country.
NBC shared an advance clip of the remarks ahead of the broadcast this evening, showing Meyers seated at his desk and speaking directly to the camera. “Good evening everybody. I’m Seth Meyers. This is Late Night,” Meyers began. “We want to start off tonight by saying that, as I’m sure you’ve heard by now, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was murdered yesterday at a college event in Utah. We are horrified by this grotesque tragedy, and our condolences go out to his family and loved ones.”
Meyers stressed that mourning Kirk’s death should not be seen through a partisan lens: “It should never be a matter of political ideology to mourn and to extend our fullest and deepest empathy to those who are suffering. Political violence is abhorrent and anathema to the highest ideals of this country. It corrodes us and threatens the very foundations of our democracy.”
He urged viewers to recommit to peaceful engagement: “The great promise of our democratic experiment is that we can engage with one another and resolve our differences through dialogue, not violence. We must hold true to that promise and strive toward it with our fullest effort, even when it feels furthest away.”
Meyers then broadened his remarks to address gun violence in America, noting that “there have already been over 300 mass shootings and 47 school shootings this year alone.” He added, “We’ve said this many times in this program, and we’ll say it again. Gun violence is a plague in this country. We desperately need reasonable gun safety laws to stop this epidemic of tragedy and pain.”
The host placed Kirk’s killing in a grim timeline of recent politically motivated attacks, citing incidents from the Charlottesville terror attack in 2017 to the January 6 insurrection, to assassination attempts against public figures including Donald Trump and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. “Sadly, I could go on,” Meyers said. “This rising tide of political violence will only lead to a darker and more dangerous place, and it must end.”
He concluded with a call for leadership: “It is the responsibility of all public figures to marshal their dignity and compassion, and lead us to a calmer, more rational place. This effort cannot be one sided, and it must start at the top. A Dartmouth study last year found that the vast majority of Americans across the political spectrum reject and abhor political violence. They’re waiting for their leaders to join them.”
Meyers’ comments came a day after Stephen Colbert opened The Late Show by offering condolences to Kirk’s family and condemning political violence, warning that it “only leads to more political violence.”
The problem is amoral violence which would appear to be on the rise. Often carried out with guns, but also with knives and other sometimes more mundane items (i.e. cutters, bats, irons, hammers,, chemicals, etc.). It coaleses in an amoral violent taking of our most sacred gift of life. The question is why is this on the rise? Divisive beliefs culminating in violence as well as a kind of moral decay devolving into psychopathic actions were once far from the norm, even rare. The morality in our country has devolved into a hateful state resembling violent terrorism no rational upright person can accept regardless of differences. If anyone, religious or otherwise, believes the tenets of The Ten Commandments to be a proper moral compass it’s clear that the path is much more simple than any differences in opinion. We must get back to this bedrock of the preservation of our collective path. Live by The Ten Commandments and treat life as a gift that is sacred.
Rather fucking difficult to achieve, seeing as how those same people that are advocating this Christian morality you’re talking about are the same ones who refuse to address the problem about too many guns in America!
Religion and guns go together as two of the big problems America has today!
You stopped me at “guns.” What the left doesn’t realize is it’s not the gun – it’s the mental illness behind that gun. Focus on the root of that problem. Our world will only get more wicked and if not guns, it’s bombs, knoves, even cars… A dark heart needs Jesus, and again this was over the trans issue. So sad.
Hey you fucking retarded bitch! Other countries have mental health problems like America. But those nations don’t go around shooting out their problems at people the way the United States does!
It IS the guns that are the problem, you fucking cunt!🖕😠🖕