Since the start of the WGA writers strike, Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld has been bragging about his status as the only late-night host willing to cross the picket line – this past weekend, he became one of the only American late-night hosts able to cross the Iron Curtain.
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On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry reacted to American sanctions over Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine by banning 500 notable Americans from entering the bellicose country. The ministry determined that the individuals on this list are “involved in the spread of Russophobic attitudes and fakes.” Among those individuals whose summers in Kursk were unjustly robbed from them were prominent figures in American politics like former president Barack Obama and MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, as well as late-night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers.
In the 14 months since the invasion began, Russia has consistently responded to economic sanctions with symbolic strikes along these lines. Back in November, Jim Carrey was surprised and amused to learn that his name was on a list of 100 Canadian undesirables for retweeting a promo for the documentary Navalny. Ben Stiller, Morgan Freeman and Sean Penn also landed on ban lists last year for various vaguely un-Putin-like activities – meanwhile, Russian state TV offered a job to the newly unemployed Tucker Carlson, and, if they ever need a libertarian David Letterman to follow their white nationalist Walter Cronkite, Gutfeld’s passport will still get him to Moscow.
At first glance, Gutfeld wouldn’t appear to be a perfect fit for Russian TV, given his track record on unions and Russia’s peculiar history of being, um, “pro-labor.” However, since the start of the war, Gutfeld, among other Fox News commentators, has argued for Ukraine and its allies to give serious concessions to Russia in order to end the conflict. Gutfeld has also criticized America’s ongoing financial support of the Ukrainian defense effort, and he even endorsed Elon Musk’s insane “negotiate Putin’s land-grab with a Twitter poll” plan for appeasement.
Back in October, a report emerged that Russian TV stations were forced to cancel many popular comedy shows because their comedians were fleeing the country due to fears of conscription. With a dearth of comedic talent and a country in need of a good laugh as its “special military operation” continues indefinitely, Russian broadcasting companies might consider scraping the bottom of the American barrel and courting Gutfeld to enter his Rocky IV phase.
Worth noting is the fact that Jimmy Fallon was also absent from the most recent banlist – but that might be because forcing propaganda ministers to watch him on The Tonight Show to determine his “Russophobia” is simply too torturous, even for the KGB.