Cynthia Nixon Would ‘Rather Be The Good Nixon Than The Bad Cuomo’

New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon appeared on The Late Show last night, talking with Stephen Colbert about her campaign. From both a celebrity and political perspective, it was a successful interview for Nixon. She and Colbert had a fun bit in the beginning about how she won a Grammy they were both nominated for in 2009, but then spent a majority of the interview talking about serious issues.

Colbert, with a whole career of playing a parody Republican, was the perfect interviewer to ask the tough questions about her campaign. Given the situation in the White House, some people are cautious about electing another celebrity, and Nixon knows that. When Colbert brings it up, Nixon uses that as an opportunity to emphasize all of the ways that she’s different than Trump. She puts distance between Trump’s upper class upbringing and her own trajectory–she’s been acting since she was 12 in order to pay for her own college.

“I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with [a] celebrity in politics, it gives you a platform,” Nixon said. “It’s what you choose to do with that platform.”

The interview ends on a note about marijuana legalization, where she makes a joke about how she’s only smoked pot twice in her life, but then continues to talk about the racial bias that goes along with marijuana criminalization.

The whole interview was a great way of addressing the criticisms of Nixon, but with the fun playful engagements that Colbert provides. Not that Nixon can’t poke fun herself. One choice quote: “I also have to say,” Nixon said, “if I was given a choice, I would rather be the good Nixon than the bad Cuomo.”