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American comedian Jon Stewart sparked online controversy after he defended Dave Chappelle's comments during his recent Saturday Night Live gig.
During an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on November 15, the 59-year-old star called Chappelle a "very good friend." He also disagreed that the latter "normalized anti-semitism" with his monolog last Saturday.
However, he added that censoring such comments would just make it worse.
He said:
"I don't know if you've been on comment sections on most news articles, but it's pretty normal. It's incredibly normal."
He added that he doesn't believe that censorship and penalties are the way to "end anti-Semitism or to gain understanding." Emphasizing that he doesn't believe in it, the comedian said that it was the wrong way to approach it.
On the November 12, 2022, episode of SNL, Dave Chappelle addressed rapper Kanye West's anti-Semitic tweets, social media posts, and statements. Chappelle seemed to be defending the rapper by agreeing with the latter's points.
Post the gig, Chappelle was slammed by several organizations and publications, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Jerusalem Post, for engaging in anti-Semitism.
Twitter reactions on Jon Stewart's comments on Dave Chappelle's SNL gig
After Jon Stewart's comments defending Dave Chappelle's monolog went viral, Twitter was left divided. Several users slammed the former Daily Show host for siding with someone who propagates "anti-Semitism, transphobia, and homophobia."
Meanwhile, others agreed with Jon Steward about open communication on such topics and even lauded him for being "mature and empathetic."
Jon Stewart suggests anti-Jew comments need to be dealt in a straightforward manner
Explaining why Dave Chappelle should not be accused of normalizing anti-Semitism, Jon said that controversial comments like these need to be dealt in "a straightforward manner." He said that if this isn't done, people will never have an understanding with each other.
The 59-year-old said that Chappelle's comments in the monologue were something that he believed was constructive. He agreed with Chappelle's statement that "it shouldn't be so hard to talk about things."
Jon added that he can't pretend that there are far too many people in the world who believe that Jewish people have an "unreasonable amount of control over the systems."
He also noted that Dave Chappelle is not the only comedian to discuss controversial stereotypes. As he stated that comedy was reductive, the comedian said that comedians played with tropes as everyone had prejudices and the way they looked at things. He said that comedians "rely on those prejudices as shorthand" for their material.
He even said that even the most woke comedians "play with tropes to a certain extent."
Jon Stewart, who is of Jewish heritage, also admitted that he does get affected by controversial comments made in the recent past.
He said that he didn't enjoy it and added:
"You know, when people I admire, with music I like, come out and say, 'How many of you are in show business?' If we all just shut it down, then we retreat to our little corners of misinformation and it metastasizes. The whole point of all this is to not let it metastasize and to get it out in the air and talk about it."
As of writing, neither Dave Chappelle nor Stewart have addressed the online backlash over their comments.
