Jon Stewart and The Daily Show was on break last week. Therefore, Monday night’s episode was its first since a St. Louis County grand jury decided not to indict former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Stewart started the show by discussing the protests the took place all over the nation in response to the announcement. Instead of focusing on the decision itself, Stewart spent the majority of the segment skewering Fox News over its coverage of Ferguson.
After showing footage of protesters demonstrating in response to Wilson’s non-indictment, Stewart aired clips of pundits declaring with certainty that the issues raised by the protesters aren’t racial, and that this shouldn’t be seen as a civil rights movement. Stewart responded to Bernie Goldberg’s claims that “Ferguson, Missouri, is not Selma, Alabama” by agreeing with him, pointing out “by definition, Ferguson, Missouri is not Selma, Alabama.” Stewart then took a swipe at Fox by saying, “Of course, if Fox had been around for Selma, Alabama, the headline probably would have been, ‘Relax, Selma isn’t slavery.'”
Stewart wanted to know the reason thousands of protesters around the nation would waste their time demonstrating if there was no large-scale racial issue between police and people of color. He then showed Fox commentators claiming that “race arsonists” were actually whipping up this frenzy. The Daily Show host then eviscerated one of his favorite targets, as he showed clips of Sean Hannity blaming everything on Al Sharpton, President Obama and Eric Holder. Stewart then asked Hannity, “Are those the three people responsible, or did you just name the only three Black guys you could think of?”
However, the truly brilliant part of Stewart’s segment came when he turned the tables on Fox News. After showing video of a pundit lecturing blacks about clinging to a victim mentality, Stewart then played a video montage highlighting how Fox News has instilled fear into its audience over the past few years. The network has done its best to make old white people feel like they are the biggest victims in America. Stewart then said that what really makes Fox News angry over Ferguson isn’t “race arson — it’s race plagiarism.”
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Comedy Central:
When it comes to calling out Fox News for its hypocrisy and race-baiting, Stewart is the master. In this instance, he completely nailed the conservative network for its irresponsibly racist coverage regarding Ferguson.
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