Jordan Klepper had a harrowing experience while filming the latest episode of The Daily Show’s special series titled Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse. Klepper talked to Variety about the special while also explaining what led him to join the Portland’s na–d bike rides that are protesting Donald Trump’s deployment of ICE in their city.
Explaining the reason behind his decision to join the protest, Klepper said, “Because Donald Trump had crafted this idea that antifa are the only people protesting, the people in Portland decided to shed all of their clothes as an image of non-violence in front of these agents.”
He then added, “As we were talking to people, we watched ICE agents consistently shooting these pepper bullets into the crowd. We watched them shove a musical band dressed in banana suits, knock a clarinetist to the ground, shove her face to the ground,” Klepper said. “Mere seconds after a joyous, comedic protest… It was really something to behold that I’ve never experienced anything like.”
View this post on Instagram
Klepper went on, “This is what America feels like right now. Absurdity and cruelty and violence all into one.” Notably, Klepper himself was “choking on pepper spray” while filming the episode. Speaking about the same, he said, “The violence I saw was so performative, was so reckless, and there was such an intention to provoke. It makes you disgusted to see American servicemen being used to literally attack people in banana costumes playing classical music… I was on the outskirts of it, and we all had to leave because we were choking on pepper spray.”
While clips from the special episode have not yet been sent to journalists for advance viewing because of the longer editing time taken by the editors to censor all the n-dity, Klepper gave a preview of it during his Thursday monologue for The Daily Show. He also talked about it on Thursday in his After the Cut segment and mentioned that participating in the protests in Portland was what ultimately inspired him.
He said, “Seeing a little bit of what was happening there in Portland about people who are like, ‘F— it, I’m showing up. And not only are they showing up, they’re finding the joy and the humor within that. And so that gave me that nice little chunk of hope.”
Check out the video here!
While Klepper’s words show the resilience that people are carrying, his experience highlights criticism of how ICE is operating in different parts of America. Despite claiming that ICE will only be targeting illegal immigrants, the reality has often been different, with people of color being their easy victims.
Moreover, the way that the Trump administration is handling America’s immigrant situation is quite cruel and heartless. News of families being torn apart has become an almost regular occurrence under ICE operations. Despite protests happening all over the country, the Trump administration has not shown any signs of stopping the controversial actions ICE is taking, and instead, they keep endorsing them.
