On a recent episode of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” the host joked about Rep. Anthony Weiner’s situation with correspondent John Oliver. During their skit, Stewart ridiculed Weiner by sipping frantically on a Margarita, imitating the way Weiner sips from a water bottle.
Stewart then accidentally broke his glass. Oliver, seeing Stewart’s hand bleeding, joked, “Don’t be so Jewish about it. You’re fine, you’re absolutely fine.”
On Yahoo! News, in both the video clip and the news story, this is where the skit ended. But on the show, it continued with Stewart replying, “I should be Catholic. I should turn this into a drink,” referring to his blood.
Weiner sends porn pictures to strangers and his buddy Stewart laughed it off. This is to be expected as the ethical bar for people like Stewart and Weiner is quite low. But for Stewart to impulsively lash out at the heart of Catholicism—when discussing a subject that has nothing to do with it—reveals a side to him that is troubling. Indeed, it suggests that it doesn’t take much to bring out the worst in Stewart: when the bigotry is visceral, the pus gushes to the surface at the slightest rub. He owes Catholics an apology.
Moreover, Yahoo! News was singularly dishonest in the way it tried to paper over Stewart’s insulting remark: it deliberately cut his offensive quip, knowing full well it would have put the skit in a totally different light. Catholics deserve an explanation
