Seth Meyers says Donald Trump is ‘a bad person,’ but he won’t let election take away show’s joy

Seth Meyers shared an encouraging message for his Late Night With Seth Meyers audience Wednesday, hours after former President Donald Trump won reelection in the 2024 presidential race.

While the Saturday Night Live alum said he doesn’t know how the staff there voted, he was confident about one thing: “Everyone who works on this show agrees on our mission, which is to find laughter, to find connection, and to find joy, even when things are bleak, and to tell you how we feel. And, look, it might be challenging, but to that challenge, I say, ‘Let’s f—ing go.'”

Like many voters in the tight race, Meyers said he couldn’t sleep Tuesday. That’s when he began to think about the privilege of his job on the NBC show, which first aired in 2014.

“This is a joyful place to work, and we hope you can see the joy when you’re watching at home,” Meyers said. “We’re not gonna let anything take that joy away, even when we’re not talking about things that are particularly joyful. For example, here’s something: I don’t think Donald Trump’s a good person. I’d even go so far as to say he’s a bad person.”

Then he deadpanned, “Now, in my defense, I’m only basing that on everything I’ve ever been taught about what makes someone good or bad. That’s it. That’s the only thing I’m basing it on.”

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Meyers acknowledged early on that he had voted for Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. “I know,” he joked. “I know, Meyers keeps it close to the vest. No one knows where Meyers stands.”

He said that, when he spoke of himself in the third person, it was a sign that “something in Meyers’ brain broke a little bit last night.”

Watch the full segment from Late Night with Seth Meyers above.