That Time Jon Stewart Yelled “F*** Off” To Only Black Staff Writer For Objecting To Offensive Impression Of A Black Person
[guest post by Dana]
On a WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Wyatt Cenac talked about when he was the only black writer at the Daily Show and confronted John Stewart about what he saw as his offensive impression of then-GOP candidate Herman Cain. Cenac explained:
“I don’t think this [impression] is from a malicious place, but I think this is from a sort of naïve, kind of ignorant place,” he remembered thinking. “It’s like, ‘Oh no, you just did this and you weren’t thinking about it. It was just the voice that came into your head.’ And so it bugged me.”
The confrontation didn’t go too well:
Since Stewart had received heat from Fox News for doing a racially insensitive voice impression on-air, the host had planned to poke fun at the issue in another segment centered around the theme of “everything I do is racist,” until Cenac stepped in and told Stewart the entire bit frankly made him uncomfortable.
“I’ve got to be honest, when I heard it, it bothered me.” Cenac, who had watched Stewart’s news segment on Cain from his hotel room, remembered telling the “Daily Show” staff in an email. “I was the one black writer there. It was this thing where it’s like, when you’re the one — whether you want to or not — you’re speaking for everybody. I felt like I had to speak for all the minorities, because there’s nobody speaking for them.”
Cenac recalled voicing his reservations again at a writers meeting, which then got Stewart riled up. “I raised a concern, like, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ … He got incredibly defensive. I remember he was like, ‘What are you trying to say? There’s a tone in your voice.’ I was like, ‘There’s no tone. It bothered me.’ … And then he got upset. He stood up and he was just like, ‘F— off. I’m done with you.’ And he just started screaming that to me, and he screamed it a few times. … ‘F— off! I’m done with you.’ And he stormed out. I didn’t know if I had been fired.”
It must suck to find out you don’t really walk on water, and actually resemble the people you mock for a living.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (86e864) — 7/26/2015 @ 5:49 pmI’m sure that if Rush had done that, it would have led the evening news for a week.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 7/26/2015 @ 5:49 pmIt’s very funny to read Ann Althouse’s take on this, which criticizes Cenac (and pretty much infers he is unstable) while lionizing Stewart. Funny how all that sensitivity and attacks of white privilege go out the window when it is Saint Jon.
Fact is, Stewart is the kind of guy who had his head held in the toilet by the football team in high school.
He is definitely part of the “personal attack” problem.
Simon Jester (f1b8a3) — 7/26/2015 @ 5:59 pm“Tone, boy, tone.”
nk (dbc370) — 7/26/2015 @ 6:07 pm“Ahs sorry, massa.”
Hi Simon Jester,
I also read Althouse on this. I felt like she was painting Cenac in a negative light and letting Stewart off the hook. For whatever reason. No matter, the fact remains that whether or not Cenac had emotional issues and lionized Stewart, Stewart still chose to lambast him for confronting him about his uh, privilege. He alone is responsible for what he said. Also, he has not refuted the accusation.
Dana (86e864) — 7/26/2015 @ 6:15 pmBreaking News: Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was found dead in a bathtub.
ropelight (42312a) — 7/26/2015 @ 6:30 pmWould Jon Stewart have done a “black” voice if Herman Cain were a liberal/Democrat? Moreover, would Stewart have been quite as indignant if one of his writers had questioned the appropriateness of Stewart’s routine if the public figure being mocked were a staunch liberal, an Obama instead of a Cain?
Mark (69948d) — 7/26/2015 @ 6:30 pmHas Stewart done a mockery of Obama? I don’t watch the show enough to know.
Dana (86e864) — 7/26/2015 @ 7:00 pmStewart’s a hypocritical, thin-skinned jerk. In other news, water is wet.
Really, this wouldn’t bother me half as much if Stewart wasn’t a self-righteous pain in the butt that lectures others about racism, white privilege, and everything else.
tops116 (d094f8) — 7/26/2015 @ 7:12 pmJon Stewart is a right-thinking progressive and so cannot be racist.
You have to remember that right-thinking progressives do not define words the way we define them. A racist person is racist in essence, and whether he or she does anything that can be characterized as racist is beside the point. Racism might be revealed by behavior but the behavior does not make you racist. Stewart, as a non-racist, is absolved from any racist motives in anything he does.
When Wyatt Cenac told Stewart that what Stewart was doing as racist, he was not talking about Stewart’s behavior, he was talking about Stewart’s identity, and that’s why Stewart blew up.
Gabriel Hanna (e354b0) — 7/26/2015 @ 7:49 pmGabriel Hanna,
So what you’re saying is that for some, words speak louder than actions. Therefore, all racists are not created equal.
Dana (86e864) — 7/26/2015 @ 8:14 pmA white person is racist in essence
FTFY. A slight but essential correction to properly present the Leftist theory. Under Leftism, a white person acting in a non racist manner is merely exercising a form of noblesse oblige.
kishnevi (294553) — 7/26/2015 @ 8:14 pmDana, remember Patterico’s “Clown Nose On, Clown Nose Off” principle—I think he came up with it about Stewart.
Althouse is an odd person. I kept thinking “check your privilege” as she carried on about Cenac’s problems.
I just remind myself that Stewart is 5 foot 7. I think he has a lot of history in him that he needs to make up for, and his basic bullying style is part of it.
Simon Jester (f1b8a3) — 7/26/2015 @ 8:23 pmI have not taken Ann Althouse seriously since the time she was stepping out on her husband and posting her alibis, such as having gone to the movies, on her blog. Which is a surmise on my part, but one I am firmly convinced of.
nk (dbc370) — 7/26/2015 @ 8:49 pmI will say this about Ann Althouse: some of her commenters really get mean toward her. She doesn’t delete them. Ouch.
Simon Jester (f1b8a3) — 7/26/2015 @ 8:50 pmNk @ 14,
Uh, wut??????!!
Dana (86e864) — 7/26/2015 @ 9:17 pmLike I said, Dana, just a surmise. Maybe I’m only biased against her because she said Johnny Depp was a better Willie Wonka than Gene Wilder and called Gene Wilder creepy to boot.
nk (dbc370) — 7/26/2015 @ 9:22 pmStewart is a racist by his own rules.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/26/2015 @ 9:26 pmUnder Leftism, a white person acting in a non racist manner is merely exercising a form of noblesse oblige.
But if that white person is a card-carrying liberal and finds himself in the crosshairs of another a “progressive” (white or black, or other) and that progressive is comparing the white liberal with — or is putting him up against — someone like a Ben Carson, Herman Cain or Clarence Thomas, race (ie, at least a person’s non-whiteness) suddenly loses its importance, meaning and value, and the progressive — whether a Jon Stewart or otherwise — will put on blackface and start doing an Al Jolson impersonation.
Mark (69948d) — 7/26/2015 @ 9:27 pmAll decent people get upset when uncle toms are defended its like defending nazi”s.
latina voter (8cd193) — 7/26/2015 @ 9:34 pm@Dana: What I’m saying is that to a leftist, words and actions don’t matter at all. “Racist” is something you ARE, not something you DO.
They look at gayness and transexuality similarly. Confronted with someone like Anne Heche, they may argue that she was never really gay at all, or that she still really is gay and is in denial, or maybe they will argue that she is really bisexual. But not one of them will argue that she stopped being something when her behavior changed.
Leftists do not have principles as you and I use the word.
Gabriel Hanna (802c45) — 7/26/2015 @ 10:14 pmI feel sorry for people who feel obligated to watch this a-hole.
mg (31009b) — 7/27/2015 @ 12:23 amNever have watched his amateur hour. Just reading about this media pimp over the years, gives me “I need a shower” feeling.
I doubt that there’s much to choose between Stewart and Cenak other than that Stewart found a lucrative niche for his shtick and Cenak hasn’t.
nk (dbc370) — 7/27/2015 @ 5:00 ami never yelled at a black person my whole life
happyfeet (831175) — 7/27/2015 @ 6:10 amif this is the worst thing someone can come up with than i am not going to vilify Jon Stewart over his attitude. HOWEVER, isn’t it a bit hypocritical of him that he only had 1 minority on his writing staff?
seeRpea (65ab7f) — 7/27/2015 @ 9:09 amif you want to know what a liberal is like on the inside, just see what accusations they level at conservatives. right LV?
quasimodo (1e0b87) — 7/28/2015 @ 4:08 amHOWEVER, isn’t it a bit hypocritical of him that he only had 1 minority on his writing staff?
Only to the extent that he advocated that other people destroy their businesses by hiring for political correctness and not for ability, productivity and integrity. Did he do that?
nk (dbc370) — 7/28/2015 @ 4:27 am