and "one of the most unpleasant viewing experiences in recent memory." "Nye’s genuine, earnest explanation is met by Velez yelling," Abad-Santos noted. "I’m not worried about Mars. Why would I be excited about Mars? I’m barely excited about Earth," Velez yelled. "Trump is first in polls right now!" When Wilmore did a Reddit AMA in February 2016, outrage over the Nye segment dominated most of the discussion, with more than 1,000 comments specifically criticizing the show's treatment of Nye, characterized by Adweeks David Griner as the moment that many thought the show "turned away from Stephen Colbert's legacy of intellectualism." In response, Wilmore was surprised by the outcry, "It was just a conversation," he wrote on Reddit. "People are allowed to have a point of view. Bill Nye had a great time on that panel. He's been on the show a couple of times. People are allowed to have opinions. For the life of me, I really don't understand why people are so upset that someone would disagree with Bill Nye. I was on Bill's side of that, but still, who cares? It's just a conversation." Bill Nye has since appeared on the show, making light of the incident. Otto Warmbier In June 2017, Wilmore came under fire for comments he had made in an episode of The Nightly Show originally broadcast on March 1, 2016. When reporting on the case of Otto Warmbier, an American college student arrested in North Korea for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda sign, Wilmore had repeatedly ridiculed Warmbier. While showing footage of a tearful Warmbier giving his testimony, Wilmore referred to Warmbier as "Otto Von Crybaby" and suggested Warmbier thought he had "Frat Bro Privilege." Warmbier was subsequently sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. He died on June 19, 2017, having been being medically evacuated from North Korea to the U.S. in a comatose state, after 15 months in prison. In a podcast on June 22, 2017, Wilmore offered an apology for his earlier remarks. Writers and contributors Jon Stewart was the creator and served as executive producer with Larry Wilmore. Robin Thede served as head writer for the first season and a half of the show, the first black woman to hold that position on a late-night talk show. Beginning with episode 233, Michael Pielocik served as the head writer. He was one of the writers before that. The other 14