“The Daily Show” returned from hiatus Tuesday night and Jon Stewart finally tackled the situation in Ferguson, Mo., directing the brunt of his criticism at what he saw as Fox News’ misplaced outrage over the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager.
He took Bill O’Reilly to task for cutting his vacation short to rage against the way the media covered the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, but not at the shooting itself. The comedian also slammed Sean Hannity for saying that he would simply lift his shirt to let an officer know he had a gun if he were ever stopped by police.
“You really do have no f*cking idea, do you?” he said. “If only Michael Brown, instead of holding his hands over his head, had reached down to his waist and lifted up his shirt to show the gun he did not actually have, well, this whole tragedy could have been avoided.”
Since Fox’s talking heads questioned whether race even factored into Brown’s shooting, Stewart went on to explain that life in America is inherently different for blacks and whites.
To illustrate, he shared that a white “The Daily Show” producer clad in “homeless elf attire” once went out in New York City to tape an interview, accompanied by a black correspondent for the show dressed in a well-tailored suit. The black correspondent was the one stopped when entering the building.
“Race is there, and it is a constant,” Stewart said. “You’re tired of hearing about it? Imagine how f*cking exhausting it is living it.”
Watch below, via Comedy Central:
Leave it to TDS to get right to the heart of the matter.
Best writers in the business. And by that I mean the news business, which is sad and amusing at the same time.
How about Jon Stewart instead of Chuckles as host of MTP? That might make it more “edgy”!
I wish I had an empathy wand that I could point at the hard-hearted cretins that dwell at Fox News.
You don’t suppose Mr. Olivander has any of those in his shop do you? Sigh.
It would definitely make it edgy. It would also mean that no newsmaker or pundit worth his/her salt would ever appear on the show again, which would not solve its ratings woes.
Fox engages in racebaiting 24/7.
Karma is going to get them for the evil they constantly commit.
FOX engages in selling information. If being outrageous or salacious or offensive will get the job done, there won’t be any changes anytime soon.
You can tell this because if the mood swings nationally on a specific topic, or at least becomes more obviously one-sided, the talking points change with it.
FOX sells to their core audience and as long as they keep buying it, why should FOX care about right and wrong.