(Image Source: The Daily Show)
BY TRACY PFIEFFER
Sanchez: “He can’t relate to somebody who grew up poor. I’m so happy he grew up in a suburban middle class New Jersey home with everything you could ever imagine.”
Stewart: “Okay, I do occasionally have my issues with Rick Sanchez and his program, but he really nailed what it was like growing in central Jersey in the early 70s, the fortunate son of a single mother in the education field.” (The Daily Show)
The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart fired back at former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez Monday, but it wasn’t his first response to Sanchez’s controversial comments.
Stewart and celebrities like David Letterman and Tom Brokaw reportedly took shots at the former anchor during “Night of Too Many Stars,” a Comedy Central fundraiser for autism research. ABC has some of his comments:
“‘If you went on radio and said Jews control the media, you might want to hold onto your money,’ adding, ‘All Sanchez has to do is apologize to us, and we’ll hire him back.’”
Sanchez himself has been silent since he was fired from CNN Friday, but Mediaite reports Sanchez’s wife updated her Facebook status regarding the issue, saying,
“rick apologized to jon stewart today. they had a good talk. jon was gracious and called rick, ‘thin-skinned.’ he’s right. rick feels horrible... he got caught up in the banter and deeply apologizes to anyone who was offended by his unintended comments.”
Meanwhile, Politico reports Sirius Radio host Pete Dominick, whose show “Stand Up!” where Sanchez made the comments, says the incident seemed bound to happen.
"Rick Sanchez came in the studio on Thursday with a live grenade in his mouth and he pulled the pin. I tried to put it back for him but he wasn't having it. He apparently had an agenda to unleash on Jon Stewart. ... If Rick didn't do it on my show, he would have done it someplace else."
Finally, a writer for the Huffington Post acknowledges the difficulty of fighting the “bigot” label, but also wonders if Stewart should have done more in his response to Sanchez.
“Maybe he was not up to dealing with Sanchez's playing the bigot card to deal with something that Stewart saw as having zero to do with ethnicity... The skewering... pretty much avoided Sanchez's complaints, and was unnecessarily insensitive to those who wanted reassurance that Stewart does not look down on Latinos.”
Stewart used a parody of Sanchez -- comparing him to the Steve Carell character The Office. We’ll leave you with that -- and be sure to let us know your thoughts -- in our comments section.
Stewart: “We here see him as kind of a complex television character, who is flawed but fascinating to watch every week.”
Sanchez: “What up with you?”
Carrell: “Whazzup?”
Carrell: “Wikipedia is the best thing ever.”
Sanchez: “Social media makes our world circular.”
(The Daily Show)
