Late-night hosts responded on Wednesday evening to the large groups of pro-Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol building in Washington D.C. in an attempt to thwart a peaceful transfer of power to incoming President-elect Joe Biden.
00:00There are some dark subjects that we talk about on the show occasionally, but I've rarely been as upset as I am tonight.
00:09Late night hosts are reacting to the Capitol Hill attack from a pro-Trump mob in an attempt to thwart a peaceful transfer of power to incoming President-elect Joe Biden.
00:18The chaos ensued on Wednesday evening when the rioters, in massive numbers, breached the building and entered the Senate floor.
00:25The situation, deemed unsafe, violent and illegal, resulted in National Guard members being called up to support law enforcement at the scene and for deaths.
00:34On The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert's monologue lacked its usual polish, as he said today's shameful events have left him shaken.
00:41Because today, the U.S. Capitol was overrun for the first time since 1814 and a woman died.
00:49Colbert spent time calling out Republicans such as Ted Cruz, as well as Fox News, for enabling Trump for so many years.
00:56You think maybe years of peddling his conspiracy theories had anything to do with this?
01:01Over on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host deemed Wednesday's events as a terrible day in the history of this country.
01:06Thank you for joining us for the treason finale of the Donald Trump era.
01:12Kimmel also added that the worst part is that the rioters were doing all of this for someone that ultimately doesn't care about them.
01:18He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about your life or your wife or your job or your health care or the air you breathe or the water you drink.
01:27He cares about himself.
01:28The host also took aim at Ted Cruz for enabling violence and asserting that Cruz doesn't actually believe the election was rigged.
01:36He's so desperate to be liked and supported by these nuts who think Joe Biden is a Chinese agent and Satan is trying to force them to wear masks to the mall so that one day he could be president.
01:48On late night, Seth Meyers said consequences are needed for those responsible for the violent insurgency that took place, namely Trump himself, along with his supporters such as Ted Cruz, Rudy Giuliani and Josh Hawley.
02:00The only way our democracy will survive this harrowing moment is if he is immediately removed from office by either the cabinet or the Congress and prosecuted.
02:11On a positive note, Meyers also took the time to praise the results of the Georgia runoffs earlier that morning.
02:16Over on the Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon addressed the Capitol riots by recounting how his late grandfather, a veteran, would be disgusted by the violence that unfolded on Wednesday were he alive today.
02:26People walking around with the flag upside down, thinking they're patriotic.
02:32Today was not patriotism. Today was terrorism.
02:36Even as he condemned the actions of the rioters, Fallon finished on an optimistic note.
02:41I assure you there are more good people than there are bad, and good will prevail.
02:46Meanwhile, James Corden provided a hopeful message for his audience from an outsider's perspective.
02:51As an outsider, growing up in England, I used to look to America as this beacon of light and possibility.
03:02Corden encouraged viewers to make no mistake that people around the world know that the America they admire still exists.
03:09They know that the America that they admire still exists.
03:13They know that the America that so many aspire to will be back.
03:21It's just been hijacked by a lunatic.
03:24As the events unfolded, Hollywood figures such as Sacha Baron Cohen and many others took to social media to react to the news.
03:31With some calling for Twitter to shut down Trump's official account, which has been filled with claims of election fraud since the presidential election in November.
03:38Trump, who earlier in the day had egged on the protesters, eventually posted a video message to his Twitter account, urging people to, quote, go home.
03:46He still referred to the election, however, as fraudulent.
03:49For more on this story, head to THR.com.
03:52For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Neha Joy.
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