James Corden Spoofed Justin Trudeau's 21 Seconds Of Silence With More Hard Questions

Not everyone found the skit funny.
Senior Writer

It seems like everyone has taken notice of the Prime Minister's pause. James Corden's Justin Trudeau spoof poked fun at the Prime Minister for those 21 seconds of silence. However, the joke didn't quite sit right with some who watched the skit.

In a broadcast of The Late Late Show with James Corden, the British host talked about Trudeau during one of the show's segments called 3 Things You Can Do To Help.

So, Corden wanted to help him out after his 21-second pause.

"I honestly thought the video was frozen," he said after the clip was played.

Then the late-night host joked that somebody should unplug the Prime Minister and then plug him back in again.

Corden then attempted to make the Prime Minister's silence "a little more forgiving" by asking questions that he deemed actually difficult to answer.

That includes ones like if ice cream is considered soup once it melts and if he could picture Vin Diesel with a full head of hair.

All of the questions were followed by clips of the silence.

To finish off, Corden asked, "what do Canadians think of The Late Late Show with James Corden?"

That one was followed by what Trudeau said when he finally answered the question asked to him by a reporter.

While Corden seemed to be amused, not everyone found the spoof funny.

After it was posted on YouTube, people took to the comments section to voice their displeasure with the segment.

"You're making fun of something that's extremely serious. I am very disappointed with your behavior," one person said.

Another person commented that the skit was in poor taste since "the question posed to the PM was in fact a 'difficult question' because Trudeau had to respectfully address the huge issue of systemic racism in North America."

Someone else said that the silence should have lasted for more than eight minutes, the amount of time that the police officer had his knee on George Floyd's neck before he died.

"This segment was in extremely poor taste and makes a mockery of the severity of the situation Americans face today," somebody also commented.

This all stems from a press conference on June 2, when Trudeau was asked what he thought about the Donald Trump having protesters tear-gassed so he could go have a photo-op.

It took him 21 seconds to formulate a response to the question.

"We all watch in horror and consternation what's going on in the United States," he said. "It is a time to pull people together but it is a time to listen, it is a time to learn what injustices continue despite progress over years and decades."

Trudeau has faced criticism for his pause and not standing up to Trump from Canadian politicians.

Even Reverend Al Sharpton, a Baptist minister and civil rights activist, shaded the 21 seconds of silence before he gave the eulogy at Floyd's memorial service.

  • Senior Writer

    Lisa Belmonte (she/her) is a Senior Writer with Narcity Media. After graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), she joined the Narcity team. Lisa covers news and notices from across the country from a Canada-wide perspective. Her early coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic earned Narcity its first-ever national journalism award nomination.

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