VICELAND’s Desus & Mero Rip into Uber and Its CEO

Screenshot from the Desus & Mero opening creditsMonday’s episode of Desus & Mero on cable channel VICELAND, opens with a funny recap of this weekend’s #deleteuber activity, when Uber appeared to undercut taxi drivers who were protesting the Muslim ban. Uber’s terrible weekend has legs.

Comedian Desus Nice holds no punches, opening the show by saying, “This weekend many of us had to delete Uber from our phones.”

On deleting the app and your account: “It’s the easiest way to protest.”

The two make fun of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and his attempt to explain participation with Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum. In Travis’ statement he names other participating CEOs.

Desus and Mero call Kalanick “Snitch McGee.”

“We all chipped in on that kilo. I’m not going down by myself!”

They praise Lyft’s donation of $1 million to the ACLU. Uber’s big, but they might have a fight.

Juno, another ride-hailing company in NYC, gets a shout at the end of the segment. (How frustrating must this event have been for Juno. They didn’t soak up the love like Lyft did.)

Following the protest taxi companies didn’t seem to get much favorable attention either. It all seemed to slide to Lyft. Desus and Mero didn’t warm up to taxis after the protest.

“We ain’t never going back to Yellow Cabs,” Desus says, because it can be hard for a black man to hail a cab in New York. He’ll support the Muslim drivers politically, but not by getting into one of their cabs.

Political expression through commercial activity appears to be a growing trend under the divisive Trump.

You know the easiest way to kill a joke? Describe why it’s funny. I’ve done something worse here; I’ve described what’s serious about these two comedians

In Desus & Mero they provide a fun, entertaining take on current events.

You can watch new episodes on VICELAND weeknights at 11. Check out this episode (Monday, January 30) while it is still steaming for free on the VICELAND website.

I wrote an unfunny play-by-play on the Uber mistakes made during the protest, if you want to know more.

Also, check out my review of a Black Mirror episode that will seem oddly familiar for Uber/Lyft/Juno drivers and riders.

 

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