Jon Stewart says censorship is not the way to end anti-Semitism after Chappelle and Kanye scandals

Jon Stewart opened up about the anti-Semitism debate surrounding Dave Chappelle, Kanye “Ye” West and Kyrie Irving during a guest appearance on CBS. The late show with Stephen Colbert at Tuesday evening.

Stewart echoed one of his characteristically nuanced yet contrasting takes and told it earnestly to his former Daily show Colleague that he “does not believe that censorship and penalties are the way to end anti-Semitism”.

Stewart, following Chappelle’s wake, called Chappelle his “very good friend”. Saturday night live Monologue that the Anti-Defamation League has dubbed “popularizing anti-Semitism.”

Stewart, who is of Jewish descent, dismissed the idea Chappelle had “normalized anti-Semitism,” saying, “I don’t know if you’ve been in the comment sections on most of the news articles, but it’s pretty damn normal … I don’t know.” believe that censorship and penalties are the way to end antisemitism or gain no understanding. I don’t believe in that. I think it’s the wrong way to go about it.”

He was referring to Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving’s suspension for promoting an anti-Jewish film on Twitter. “Punishing someone for having a thought is not, in my opinion, the way to change their mind or gain understanding,” he said. “This is a grown man saying, ‘We’re going to put you on time-out, you’re going to sit in a corner and stare at the wall until you stop believing that the Jews control the international banking system.’ We have to deal with that in the country. People think Jews control Hollywood. People think Jews control the banks. And pretending they don’t and not dealing with it in a simple way, we’ll never understand somehow.”

Colbert backed off a bit, suggesting that while people have the right to say what they want, such as e.g. comics, but viewers also have the right to react and view their material as they see fit.

“The knee-jerk naming of antisemitism is just as reductive as some of the things they might say,” Stewart replied. “It instantly ends a conversation… Comedy is reductive. We play with tropes because everyone has prejudices. Comics draw on these prejudices as a shortcut for our material. Even the brightest of comics plays with tropes to some extent.”

Stewart explained that wounds like racial inequality and anti-Semitism need to be exposed, but the “general tenor of conversations in this country is to cover it up. Look at it from a black perspective. It’s a culture that feels its wealth has been exploited by different groups – white, Jewish. Whether it’s true or not isn’t the question, that’s the feeling in this community. And if you don’t understand where it’s coming from, you can’t sit down and explain that being in an industry is not the same as having a nefarious and controlling stake in that industry.

“Dave said something in the SNL Monologue, which I also thought was constructive, which is, ‘It shouldn’t be that hard to talk about things,'” he added. “And that’s what we’re talking about. I can’t believe there aren’t a lot of people who believe the Jews have undue control over the systems and use them as puppet masters. I’ve been called an anti-Semite because I oppose Israel’s treatment of Palestinians…this one [terms] end debate. They are used as billets. And whether it’s comedy or discussion or anything else, if we don’t have the tools to face each other with reality, how do we move forward?”

At this, Colbert stared at Stewart in silence, and then his guest continued. “We have our own tropes,” he said. “For example: ‘White man’s success comes from privilege. The success of a minority is empowerment. A Jew’s success – that’s a conspiracy.” You feel that. I feel that. But I have to be able to convey that to people. If I can’t say this is bullshit and explain why, then where do we go? If we all just shut it down, we retreat into our little corners of misinformation and it metastasizes.”

Stewart put his hand on Colbert’s arm. “Does that make sense? I know you don’t agree with that.”

“You know what, Jon? I don’t disagree with you,” Colbert replied. “I just wanted to say [echoing Chappelle’s dutifully read disclaimer at the top of his SNL monologue] — ‘I condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms and stand by my friends in the Jewish community.’”

present a different perspective on the matter, Chop Star and comedian Hannah Einbinder posted on her Instagram Stories earlier this week: “Yes, the Chappelle monologue was riddled with anti-Semitism. He did it masterfully… He had some solid jokes in that sentence… The laughter allowed people to overlook the repeat of the conspiracy he threw in… No one laughing at the solid jokes would be willing to admit that it was anti-Semitism in that monologue, because that admission would then qualify her as an accomplice. “Nobody wants to feel like a bad person.” The fact is, non-Jews are not as aware of anti-Semitic ideas, tropes, idioms, etc. Most people just completely overlooked these ideas and only remember laughing… The danger here is that Dave Chappelle and every other man comedians who think their reinforcement of bigotry is just free speech become tougher as narrators Truths are viewed, and therefore all who criticize them are viewed as snowflakes. I invite you to reformulate this narrative. These fringe-picking men are establishment thugs who reinforce the status quo — not at all a comedian’s job. It’s the people speaking ‘against’ them who are telling the truth.”