Larry Wilmore doesn’t think for a minute that Comedy Central decided to cancel his show because of race.
Rather, the 54-year-old host of the now defunct The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, thinks the network failed to properly promote his show in the same way they had for newcomer Trevor Noah who took the reigns as The Daily Show host last year.
“Trevor’s doing very well. You know, he’s a black host, and he’s resonating with a lot of people, so I don’t think the color has anything to do with it,” Wilmore told Eric Deggans of All Things Considered.
“To me, I didn’t feel like there was enough synergy between our two shows, where we could have been, you know, promoting each other the way John and Stephen did,” he said.
Larry Wilmore Interviewed Some ACTUAL Black Trump Supporters
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One facet of the show Wilmore does pride himself on is the diversity of his “niche” program. Now with Wilmore off the air, there is again a return to the all white, male cast of late night voices.
“I am the most proud that we set out to do a show to present voices that rarely get a chance to be heard on television, “ he told Vulture.
“People who don’t get to be seen all the time, and to take the underdog perspective a lot of the time, and to tackle tough issues like race or even class when there are so many people who are feeling left out in the country right now.”
Up next for Larry Wilmore is the release of the HBO comedy, Insecure, which he co-created with writer/producer Issa Rae.
Just three days after the network publicly announced its plans to cancel the show, Wilmore readies himself for his final on-air salute.
Larry Wilmore’s last show airs tonight at 11:30/10:30PM central time.