Someone Please Investigate Why Ukraine’s President Loves Jay Leno

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Hey, here’s something weird: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky supposedly considers former Tonight Show host Jay Leno a “hero.” This is according to the testimony of the ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland. Before we get into the whole thing, let’s point out that: 1) Zelensky was a comedian before he ran for president, 2) No one for whom Jay Leno is a hero has any business being a country’s president, let alone a comedian.

All right, here’s the supposed story, per the Washington Post. In an attempt to curry favor with Zelensky after his election, Sondland invited along his “personal friend” Leno to perform at a celebration in Brussels. The paper reported that Leno’s “US-focused patter fell flat on the ears of European officials.” Here’s how Sondland put it:

Mother Jones reached out to Jay Leno’s publicist for comment.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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