Jon Stewart withholds jokes following deadly Charleston church shooting
Jon Stewart was at a loss for jokes on Thursday night following the deadly shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday, but he wasn't at a loss for words.
Instead of snark, the outspoken host of "The Daily Show," exhausted of the hate and violence committed on American soil, dedicated his monologue to addressing issues of racism and apathy head on.
"I didn't do my job today. I apologize," Stewart said about his typical mocking of daily news. "I've got nothing for you in terms of jokes and sounds, because of what happened in South Carolina...I honestly have nothing other than just sadness once again that we have to peer into the abyss of the depraved violence we do to each other and the nexus of a gaping racial wound that will not heal yet we pretend doesn't exist."
Stewart's outrage was primarily directed at people and the media, which he says use couched and "nuanced" language to avoid calling the shooting, which claimed the lives on nine people at Bible study, a "terrorist attack."
According to witnesses in Charleston, the shooter suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, entered the famous church and allegedly stated "I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country. And you have to go."
Stewart wasted no time pointing fingers at what he sees as a racist culture embraced as southern tradition in South Carolina.
"The Confederate flag flies over South Carolina. And the roads are named for Confederate generals. And the white guy is the one who feels like his country is being taken away from him. We're bringing it on ourselves," Stewart said. "Al Qaeda, all those guys -- ISIS. They're not sh*t compared to the damage that we can apparently do to ourselves on a regular basis."
"Nine people were shot in a black church by a white guy who hated them who wanted to start some kind of civil war," Stewart indicated before providing an example of how the incident is being re-framed to avoid the topic of racism.
"I heard someone on the news say, 'Tragedy has visited this church.' This wasn't a tornado. This was racist," Stewart said. "I hate to even use this pun, but this one is black and white. There's no nuance here. But we're going to keep pretending [...] We are steeped in that culture in this country and we refuse to recognize it."