Comedian Randy Rainbow turned down the wit and turned up the wisdom in his latest song political parody, not only sticking it to President Trump but also expressing a mea culpa for old tweets featuring racial stereotypes and slurs referencing transgender people.
Rainbow, whose comedic and melodic jabs at Trump and his administration has gained huge attention over the last four years, was hit with a career speed bump last month after numerous disparaging, decade-old tweets surfaced. In an interview with The Advocate the following week, Rainbow said, “I’m embarrassed by them. They make me sick to my stomach, in fact, and I deeply apologize to anyone I offended.”
But in his latest musical parody, Rainbow took his apology one step further, explaining his act (and its evolution) to not only his audience but to Trump himself.
In the new video, Rainbow inserts himself into a sit-down interview with Trump. “The election is around the corner and it seems your campaign strategy has been to ramp up your divisiveness and bigotry, spread misinformation, even disparage the military,” he tells the POTUS.
“Listen, I get it. I was once an aspiring comedian just like you,” he tells Trump. “I posted offensive things for shock value. The difference was I was doing it satirically, you know, using irony and exaggeration to point out the absurdity, saying and doing things through a persona that I wasn’t actually saying and doing. You know, kind of like how I’m not really at the White House with you right now. See, it’s just a green screen,” he added, clicking a remote to remove the Oval Office backdrop.
“But I changed my act when I realized there were actually awful things actually being said and done by actual awful people just like you look,” he continued. “And once I had an actual platform, I vowed I would try my best to use it only for good.”
And there is one more vow Rainbow says he has taken. Cue the musical accompaniment, please.
Set to the tune of the “I Won’t Grow Up” from “Peter Pan,” Rainbow vowed to “Never Vote Trump!”
“I won’t vote Trump / No there’s not a chance in hell / I will try to make a difference / ’cause this isn’t going well / So don’t waste your bad breath on me / I sooner cast my vote for Cardi B.” Etc.
You can catch the whole thing below.