Desus Nice of late-night duo Desus and Mero opened up about his past experience with cops while on The View, Wednesday.
View co-host Sunny Hostin asked the comedian about ABC’s new initiative “Turning Point,” which examines the current racial reckoning in the United States, noting that he’s written about his own experiences with the NYPD in his new book.
“Have you noticed a difference in how you’re treated now as opposed to then?” Hostin asked, questioning if the comedian’s fame has changed how police treat him.
Desus admitted that while there was a time he was stopped by police officers at Yankee and Knicks games just because they were fans of his, the mask mandate has changed things.
“When I have interactions with the cops, they have no idea who I am, so they’re treating me very much like the regular person. I’m seeing what regular people go through,” he said. “They’re treating me like a regular brown person in New York City. So there’s no — I don’t have, like, a high horse to be, like, oh, you know, there’s some good cops and bad cops. My experiences with the cops have been pretty consistent my whole entire life. They’re not good.”
Desus noted that he personally identifies with the police brutality he sees on TV and knows the pain people are feeling.
“When the people are kneeling and saying I can’t breathe, I have been on the other side of that, and that doesn’t change just because I have a TV show,” he said.
Watch above, via ABC.