“Late Night” writer Amber Ruffin both startled and delight the NBC show’s audience on Tuesday, during her latest “Amber Says What” segment. This time, it was because she made a clear dig at President Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and CBS, all in one fell swoop.
For those unfamiliar with the segment, it functions as a bit of a news recap, since Seth Meyers doesn’t have the time or space to cover every major news story. So, Ruffin speed runs through stories, reacting to each one with some version of “What?” and a punchline.
“I heard ‘Survivor’ was celebrating its 50th season, and I was like ‘What?’” she said on Tuesday. “‘Woo!’ said some people.”
Then, Ruffin took the dig at CBS one farther.
“So, ‘Survivor’ is celebrating its 50th season, and thanks to Paramount’s new owners, that’s the only island CBS is willing to talk about,” she joked, as a graphic of Epstein island appeared onscreen.
The punchline earned a quiet “ooooh” from the audience, as Ruffin pretended to toss her hair and moved right along.
At this point, neither Larry nor David Ellison, the owners of Paramount, have been named in the Epstein files. However, President Trump has, and his friendship with the Ellisons has come under scrutiny in recent months, after CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s show, and as Paramount prepares to buy Warner Bros.
Last year, just three days after Colbert accused his network’s parent, Paramount Global, of paying a “big fat bribe” to Trump by settling his lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” segment broadcast during the presidential campaign, CBS announced the late night show would be coming to an end. Trump loudly celebrated, and many speculated that he was a driving force behind the decision.
Trump recently diminished his friendship with the Ellisons though, amid Paramount’s efforts to buy Warner Bros., insisting they aren’t that close.
