Baited. New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang will be joining Ziwe for an interview on this week’s episode of Ziwe. It’s the first guest for her Showtime series who was announced the old-fashioned way: Ziwe accosting them on Twitter. “@AndrewYang would you be interested in an interview on my show?” she tweeted with a pic of what could be. “you’d be an iconic guest.” As first reported by The Wall Street Journal’s Kate Honan, Showtime has confirmed that Yang will be on Ziwe this Sunday at 11 p.m. The new series that originated as a web series and went viral as an Instagram Live is known for luring in unsuspecting guests and annihilating them with Ziwe’s unique method of making them think and rethink. Whether they come out looking good isn’t her problem. So far, she’s interviewed Fran Lebowitz, Gloria Steinem, Eboni K. Williams, and Rachel Lindsay. As an increasingly controversial political figure (from odd bodega purchases all the way to support of Israel as Palestinian civilian deaths rise), Yang is likely in for an interrogation more thorough than the process of becoming mayor would’ve been. Can’t think of a more iconic way to tank your campaign.
Updated Saturday, May 22 at 2:45 p.m.: Sunday can’t come fast enough. On Saturday, Ziwe tweeted a clip from her upcoming interview with New York City mayoral hopeful Andrew Yang, and it’s even more excruciating than we could have guessed. When Yang says, “I listened a lot to hip-hop during like the 90s and 2000s,” Ziwe presses for specifics, and Yang answers, “Jay-Z and a little bit of Nas.” New Yorkers. Sure. But when Ziwe asks what Yang’s favorite Jay-Z song is, it’s as though the candidate has been hit with the toughest piece of gotcha journalism of his career. He says “yes.” He says “um.” He sighs. He looks off-camera and asks aloud, “what is my favorite Jay-Z song?” The guy’s stumped. Watch on Sunday to see if his assistant mouths “Empire State of Mind” to him from off-camera, we guess?
