The Daily Show with Trevor Noah unveiled its Heroes of the Freedomsurrection monument installation at Century City Plaza on Friday, but the late night show’s correspondent Roy Wood Jr. is “surprised” the pop-up is starting its tour in a blue city.
“I hope it goes to Texas,” Wood told Los Angeles. “That’s where Ted Cruz is from and I think it’s one thing to showcase it in LA, but it’s another thing, all jokes aside, when you see everything that these people have said, and it is right here in front of you, like this is something to laugh at, but these are real things that people said, these are real things that people did, so to be able to see that in front of you, with no spin, no comments underneath it, nobody influencing extra ideology, it’s just their words versus your mind.”
Wood Jr. added that he truly believes “logic will win” and thinks these monuments should reside where these “ideologies are permanented very deeply.”
“I think Texas is one of those places,” he concluded.
The installation pays “tribute to the heroes” most responsible for inciting the violent, anti-democratic riots of January 6th, 2021 including Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson. Each six-foot tall monument features a bronze plaque with an inscription detailing each figure’s part in fomenting the insurrection, with The Daily Show’s trademark humor infused through-out.
“I’m not surprised at anything that our show comes up with. This is the same show that had an entire library that toured for years dedicated to nothing but Donald Trump’s tweets. The Donald Trump Twitter Library ended up in like ten different cities, so when they did this monument as a pop-up in New York earlier this year, I thought, ‘Oh that’s funny.’ Sure enough, they told us it’s going to LA,” Wood said.
“It only makes sense because mid-terms are coming up, so it is a matter of stirring the pot a little bit as we head into November,” he added. “I figure at some point it’ll go to D.C. For mid-terms, we always go live from some battleground state or some purple state. We haven’t made a decision on where just yet.”
In a nod to the ongoing debate over Confederate monuments across America, The Daily Show seeks to cement in stone the legacy of ten people who fought against America on January 6th, and lost. The exhibit description includes a sarcastic plea to the public: “Please don’t tear down these monuments, because, history.” Wood noted the expectation of vandalism is still there.
“I think this being vandalized is a real risk,” Wood said. “If we have learned anything about monuments going up or coming down in the last two years, it’s that Americans have very strong opinions about monuments, so a fear? No. Is it possible? Absolutely. But even if they did that, all it does is bring more attention to it.”
The installation is free and open to the pubic. The monuments will be on display throughout the weekend.
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