Jon Stewart Talks Kanye West Antisemitism, Defends Dave Chappelle

Jon Stewart defended his pal Dave Chappelle throughout his look on “The Late Present With Stephen Colbert” Tuesday night, commenting on the comic’s current “Saturday Evening Reside” monologue, which Anti-Defamation League management criticized for “popularizing” antisemitic sentiments.

“Everyone calls me like, ‘You see Dave on SNL?’ And I say sure, we’re superb mates. I at all times watch and ship good texts,” Stewart started. “‘He normalized antisemitism with the monologue.’ I don’t know for those who’ve been on remark sections on most information articles, but it surely’s fairly regular. It’s extremely regular. However the one factor I’ll say is I don’t imagine that censorship and penalties are the way in which to finish antisemitism or to realize understanding. I don’t imagine in that. It’s the mistaken method for us to strategy it.”

In his Nov. 12 internet hosting gig on “SNL,” Chappelle started the present with a prolonged 15-minute standup set, cracking jokes about Kanye West’s current antisemitic remarks and his subsequent lack of quite a few enterprise partnerships.

Each comedians, Chappelle and Stewart have been mates for a few years. The pair costarred within the 1998 comedy “Half Baked” and carried out reveals collectively by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stewart was additionally current throughout Chappelle’s Could present in Los Angeles wherein the comic was attacked onstage.

“Dave stated one thing within the SNL monologue that I assumed was constructive, which he says, ‘It shouldn’t be this tough to speak about issues,’” Stewart stated. “I’m referred to as antisemitic as a result of I’m towards Israel’s remedy of Palestinians. I’m referred to as different issues from different folks based mostly on different opinions that I’ve, however these shut down debate… Whether or not it’s comedy or dialogue or the rest, if we don’t have the wherewithal to satisfy one another with what’s actuality then how will we transfer ahead? If all of us simply shut it down, then we retreat to our little corners of misinformation and it metastasizes. The entire level of all that is to not let it metastasize and to get it out within the air and speak about it.”

Stewart’s phrases additionally prolonged to the subject of Brooklyn Nets participant Kyrie Irving, who’s at present dealing with a workforce suspension after sharing a movie that includes antisemitic content material on his social media.

“This can be a grown ass man. The concept you’d say to him, ‘We’re going to place you in a timeout. It’s important to sit within the nook and stare on the wall till you now not imagine that the Jews management the worldwide banking system’… We’ll by no means achieve any form of understanding with one another,” Stewart stated. “Penalizing anyone for having a thought — I don’t assume is the way in which to alter their minds or achieve understanding.”

Stewart additionally introduced up West’s controversies throughout his look.

“One thing Kanye stated on his tour — he acquired interviewed by 5 completely different folks as a result of the media mannequin is arson and battle —he stated, ‘Damage folks harm folks,’” Stewart stated. “I’m afraid that the overall tenor of dialog that this nation has is ‘Cowl it up, bury it, put it to the outskirts and don’t cope with it.’ Take a look at it from a Black perspective. It’s a tradition that feels that its wealth has been extracted by completely different teams… That’s the sensation in that group and for those who don’t perceive the place it’s coming from then you possibly can’t cope with it.”  

Tuesday night’s episode of “The Late Present” additionally featured a efficiency by LCD Soundsystem.