Wilmore opened May 24’s episode of The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore with a short news segment on Andrew Jones, a senior at Amite High School. Jones, who was class valedictorian with a 4.0 average, had been banned from walking during his school’s graduation ceremony for not shaving his facial hair. While Wilmore couldn’t resist cracking a few jokes, he applauded Jones, referring to him as a graduate in his books.
Following Jones’s story, the show moved on to an eccentrically-named segment: I Haven’t Forgotten About You Motherfucker Update. The night’s Update centered on Bill Cosby and how he was finally being taken to trial for accusations of rape and sexual assault in Pennsylvania. After a few gratuitous O.J. Simpson jokes, Wilmore claimed that the upcoming trial was a great legal victory for attempting to put Cosby behind bars, who had already admitted to a number of his acts.
The next segment, Pardon the Integration, dealt with the recent Washington poll, detailing that 9 out of 10 Native Americans were not offended by the Washington Redskins name. Wilmore appeared skeptical of this fact, bringing out The Nightly Show contributors Mike Yard and Rory Albanese to debate the matter. Yard took the side of “Anti-Redskins team name,” with Albanese reluctantly taking “Pro-horrible racial slurs.” Yard appeared pleased with this arrangement until the two switched sides, with Albanese being “Anti-horrible racial slurs” and Yard being “Pro-Redskins team name.” Albanese couldn’t resist digging into Yard during the roll reversal, twisting his words each time he attempted to speak.
The night’s panel, featuring Mike Yard, Robin Thede and special guest Esperanza Spalding, dealt with the Washington poll further, with Wilmore posing the question of whether it was racist to keep the name. For the most part, the answer was yes, with the panelists making the argument that a similar name would not stand in the case of another racial group. The conversation remained easy going, however, the guests satisfied in their agreement.