Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura had a perfectly good explanation Wednesday for sitting though a CNN interview while wearing sunglasses.

“What’s with the shades,” CNN host Brooke Baldwin asked at the end of the interview.

“Hunter Thompson’s gone,” Ventura said, “and I’ve been reading a lot of Hunter S. Thompson’s work. And now that he’s not here to warn us anymore about what’s going to happen, I would like to assume the role of Hunter S. Thompson now.”