‘The Daily Show’ Unveils ‘Racial Support Pilots,’ Mocking DEI Criticism | Video

Nathan Fielder isn’t the only comedian who’s allowed to joke about airline pilots. “The Daily Show” made fun of DEI hand-wringing around the industry on Tuesday with the introduction of its latest service: White Flight.

The fake commercial starts with a man rolling his eyes and muttering “DEI” at two pilots who happen to be a Black man and a woman.

“Are your passengers uncomfortable with the look of your pilots?” a cheery woman says in the Comedy Central voiceover. “Then you need White Flight, a revolutionary new service offering racial support pilots. Sign up and your diverse pilots will be given one of our White Flight stand-ins. Passengers will be reassured by a handsome Caucasian pilot with a penis.”

Jordan Klepper stars as the poster pilot for White Flight, a white man who happily greets passengers as they board the plane — but who’s only qualified to play video games throughout the flight. The fictional service is also available for firefighters, boat captains and surgeons. Watch the sketch below:

There haven’t been any recent news stories about pilots facing an escalated amount of racial or sexual discrimination. But ever since Trump was elected for his second term, DEI hiring practices have been under attack. Specifically, a Biden Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hiring policy was cut by the sitting president. This, combined with the fact that the Trump administration fired hundreds of FAA officials, outdated airport technology and the ongoing flight delays, cancelations and crashes, have led to an industry that’s in crisis.

Perhaps surprisingly, “The Daily Show” mockery of air travel has nothing to do with comedian Nathan Fielder’s deep dive into the industry. In the latest season of HBO’s “The Rehearsal,” Fielder proposed that a major reason for airplane crashes is a lack of communication. The season is devoted to proving his hypothesis while trying to force pilots and co-pilots to talk to each other more through a series of rehearsals.

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