Does… does Donald Trump know Hannibal Lecter isn’t a real guy? I’m genuinely asking. Over the weekend at a rally in New Jersey, the former president praised the fictional cannibal, played by everyone from Anthony Hopkins to Mads Mikkelsen, for being a “wonderful man.”
Trump’s full comments: “Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He’s a wonderful man. He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? ‘Excuse me, I’m about to have a friend for dinner,’ as this poor doctor walked by. ‘I’m about to have a friend for dinner.’ But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter.” He then continued to rant about immigration, or whatever.
After playing the rally clip during Monday’s episode of Late Night, host Seth Meyers tried to make sense of the insanity. “At this rally, Trump talked about The Silence of the Lambs character Hannibal Lecter and said he was a ‘wonderful man.’ First of all, Hannibal Lecter isn’t real. He’s a character played by Anthony Hopkins, a wonderful man who is real. Second, the character Hannibal is not a wonderful man, he’s a cannibal who murdered a bunch of people. And third, please tell me this is not your VP announcement,” he said. If I may add one more: Lecter doesn’t die in The Silence of the Lambs, so he’s not the “late” Hannibal Lecter. But the fact that Meyers doesn’t bother bringing that up shows how nutty Trump’s comments are.
You can watch the Late Night video above.