Jon Stewart Defends Duck Dynasty Star's Right to Say 'Ignorant Shit'
With Christmas right around the corner, most news outlets have already checked out, as evidenced by the fact that this week's biggest story by far was something some backswamp redneck reality show "personality" said about his juvenile aversion to putting his penis inside a man's anus because vaginas are better.
Jon Stewart also has one foot in his holiday vacation, but before leaving he felt the need to say something about this ducking non-troversy — and take an obligatory swipe at Fox News while he was at it.
"I don't actually watch Duck Dynasty," Stewart acknowledged, "and I had assumed it was a show where ducks reenact the show Dynasty — which, by the way, would have a huge gay audience."
Stewart made it clear he was not personally cool with Phil Robertson's homophobic comments. "But I also have an inclination to support a world where saying ignorant shit on television doesn't get you kicked off that medium," he said.
With his own defense of Robertson out of the way, Stewart turned his attention toward the hypocrisy very much apparent in the defense of Robertson coming from the right.
"I guess I stand with the free speech absolutists at Fox News, who don't believe you should have to adhere to the culture norms of speech," Stewart said, before adding, "Mostly."
He then launched into a truly lovely montage of Fox News clips showing the network's anchors, hosts, and talking heads getting hot under the festive collar over the use of "Happy Holidays" in lieu of "Merry Christmas."
Fox's "belief in free speech doesn't extend to the holidays where the word Christmas is mandatory," Stewart concluded.
Happy holidays.