Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno doesn’t see much humor in the “race baiting” and “Islamophobia” of the 2016 presidential race, and in particular, of one specific Republican presidential aspirant.
The 66-year-old funnyman and host of car show Jay Leno’s Garage said as much in an interview with Extra earlier this week.
“I don’t want to interview Trump,” Leno said during a red carpet interview for the upcoming season of Garage.
The late-night legend said his 20-plus year reign hosting The Tonight Show was a “simpler time” for comedians telling politically-charged jokes on television.
“I came up in the era when Clinton was horny and Bush was dumb,” Leno said. “It was a simpler, funny time. Now it is all race baiting and homophobia and Islamophobia.”
Leno said he simply believes that it’s harder to find the humor in this presidential election, taking thinly veiled digs at Trump’s proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S.
“There are still plenty of jokes there,” Leno said, adding: “but there is an ugliness to this campaign that I don’t find attractive at all, and I really don’t want to joke about somebody saying, ‘All Muslims should be kicked out of the country or ‘because a guy is Mexican, he can’t be a judge.’ It is tricky to find the joke there.”
Instead, Leno said he’d rather interview a certain former gold-medal Olympian-turned-reality TV star.
“I have known Caitlyn [Jenner] for a long time,” Leno told FOX411. “She is still very much the same person, still very competitive.”
Jenner appeared on The Tonight Show in December 2009.
Jay Leno’s Garage, the CNBC show that brought the funnyman back to television in 2014, is entering its second season. The show sees Leno interviewing celebrities as they ride around in and restore vintage automobiles.
The show’s second season will feature Jenner, Jerry Seinfeld, Nick Cannon, and Vice President Joe Biden.
Jay Leno’s Garage airs June 15.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson
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