“Late Night” writer Amber Ruffin broke out her own rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” on Tuesday night, but the comedian made some very specific changes to ensure that Gaynor wouldn’t profit off said parody. Why? Well, Ruffin recently learned about Gaynor’s donations to GOP candidates, including Trump allies.
Ruffin returned for a new “Amber Says What” on Tuesday, a regular “Late Night” bit in which she speedily recaps recent news stories that host Seth Meyers hasn’t been able to cover. As the title implies, her reaction is almost always just some inflection of the word “what.” And, in the case of Gaynor, that “what” was both stunned and upset.
“I heard that Gloria Gaynor is going to get an award at the Kennedy Center Honors, and I was like ‘What what!’” Ruffin said excitedly. “Gloria Gaynor sang ‘I Will Survive’ and I love her. But then I realized, she was going to get this award from Trump, who also chose her, and I was like, ‘What?’”
“Then, I read that she had donated to Republican candidates, and I was like, what?” Ruffin continued, standing up in shock. “Gloria Gaynor, beloved by minorities, and the LGBTQ community is gonna kiki with the man trying to take our rights away?”
Indeed, it was revealed this summer that Gaynor has donated thousands of dollars to Republican campaigns, including that of current House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“That makes me feel sad, but…” Ruffin said, before breaking out into Gaynor’s hit song.
But, just a few seconds in, Ruffin changed both a lyric and a note, lowly singing, “This is the note that stops her from getting any money off this bit.” A few more seconds in, Ruffin did it again.
“How to love, I know I’ll be all right,” she sang, dropping her pitch. “Right here again, it goes pretty wonky, to make sure no money goes to this woman and, as a result, the Republican party.”
Ruffin even tossed in a curse word to make it extra clear that her version of the song is a parody and doesn’t require any payment to Gaynor.
You can watch Amber Ruffin’s full bit in the video above.
