Was Jon Stewart doing ‘Amos n Andy’ imitation of Herman Cain?
Jon Stewart and Fox News have been going back and forth the past few days ever since Stewart appeared on Chris Wallace’s show. How liberal is Jon Stewart? How conservative is Fox News?
Then Georgia presidential candidate Herman Cain took offense at a recent Stewart imitation of Cain. After Cain jokingly said he’d like bills to be only three pages long, Stewart mocked him via a voice somewhat like Cain’s and implied Cain does not like to read. Here’s the exact joke:
JON STEWART, HOST, “THE DAILY SHOW”: While Pawlenty attempts to get us to face the problem inside us, candidate Herman Cain offers real solutions to fictional issues.
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don’t try to pass a 2,700-page bill. You and I didn’t have time to read it. We are too busy trying to live, send our kids to school. That’s why I’m going to only allow small bills, three pages. You will have time to read that one over the dinner table.
STEWART: Bills will be three pages. If I am president, treaties will have to fit on the back of a cereal box. From now on, the State of the Union address will be delivered in the form of a fortune cookie. I am Herman Cain, and I do not like to read.
And here is what Cain has to say with Juan Williams on Fox News:
WILLIAMS: Tell me what’s your beef with Jon Stewart.
CAIN: First of all, Jon Stewart is a comedian. I understand that. But when he starts to mock the three-page joke, him being a comedian, he ought to have known that that was a joke. But he took it seriously and then he started to stretch it out with all of the other stuff. Now, when he mocked me in the dialogue of the old “Amos and Andy”…
WILLIAMS: Dialect.
CAIN: Dialect of the old “Amos and Andy.” I think that was a bit much. But, you know, he is a comedian. I’m running for office. I’m a problem-solver.
WILLIAMS: You know, one of the things that drives conservatives crazy, Mr. Cain, is when liberals respond to any criticism by playing the race card.
CAIN: Right.
WILLIAMS: Are people going to say, “Hey, Herman Cain is now playing the race card on Jon Stewart”?
CAIN: I’m not playing the race card. Some people in the media are playing the race card. I didn’t complain. Look, the list of names that I have been called and the many times that people have tried to pull me into the race card game, I just have refused. I have got a long list of names in my radio studio where every name in the book they have called me. So I really am not overly — I’m not offended by what he was trying to do. He’s a comedian. I’m a problem-solver. So I wasn’t — I’m not the one playing that card. Some other people are playing that card. It’s not about color. I keep saying that. It’s about content of ideas and it is about character.
And here is Stewart defending himself on his own show last night by pulling the “I’m just a comedian who makes fun of everybody’s dialect” argument. It is actually funny to watch Stewart do mock accents of everyone from Dick Cheney to Pres. Obama:
accessAtlanta Partner Sites
Sections
Advertise on accessAtlanta.com »
Reach the audience you want by advertising on accessAtlanta.com
Join the Access Atlanta Network »
Advertisers and Publishers, expand your reach by joining the Access Atlanta Network.
Tell us what you think about the site
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement | About our ads
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
191 comments Add your comment
Corgie
June 29th, 2011
4:31 pm
If IQ tests were mandatory for voting privileges then the Dems would never win another election at any level, that includes local PTA’s.
voice of reason
June 29th, 2011
4:31 pm
Where do I start with this one??? Cain is offended by Jon Stewart’s joke which was a response to Cain’s joke. How ironic is that? Just like Cain was joking, Jon was joking so that should even out, right? A comedian’s job is to make fun of people. Show me a comedian that doesn’t incorporate stereotypes (racial, gender, regional, age, cultural etc) into their routine and I’ll show you a starving comedian. What makes it offensive is when a comedian targets one specific group.
Having said that, if he intends to run for president, he can expect much worse things to be said of him during the campaign. Things that almost every man, woman and child will agree is racist or offensive. If he’s already complaining about offensive remarks by a comedian, it tells me he’s too thin-skinned to make it through the most grueling test in the world.
Say what you will about Obama, Bush, Clinton and any of their predecessors but they’re not men who complain about being made fun of.
Terry
June 29th, 2011
4:32 pm
Of course he did the Amos & Andy skit and he is a racist. If you can’t see it in the video you are blind & deaf.
But it is okay b/c he & tools like Bill Maher will never be called out about it from the circle of racist friends. They are
-White
-Liberal
-Jewish
-Northeastern
and part of “The Untouchables”
They only hang out w/ other rich, white liberals in the Hamptons. These people never associate with blacks.
John
June 29th, 2011
4:33 pm
@ voice of reason,
Will you please compile a complete list of all the “horrible, crude, offensive” things Obama had to endure by comedians during his campaign?
Thanks, we all look forward to your “list”
C Anthony
June 29th, 2011
4:34 pm
Midori..no one would wish to live by you DA.
BAXTER
June 29th, 2011
4:34 pm
Terry,
Ever notice that the states with the most blacks are conservative and the states with the least are generally blue?
Because just like you said, they never have to deal or associate with them.
jim
June 29th, 2011
4:35 pm
Sticks and stones, you liberal morons. When Jon Stewart gets called on the carpet, he’s just “being a comedian”. But the rest of his show is “real news”?! Give me a break. His show has always been a stage to bash republicans. But, always remember it’s on the COMEDY CHANNEL and can be somewhat amusing at times. His problem is he tries to be serious and gets defensive when not taken seriously. All you have to do is see how he reacts in interviews when criticized or worse criticizing a democrat. He looks like a baby, crying out “please take my politics seriously”. If you get your “news” from a comedy channel show, you are definitely an mtv generation illiterate. Johnny Carson wouldn’t act that way in interviews. Also, Jon Stewart wasn’t the original funnyman who got that show off and running.
Justin
June 29th, 2011
4:35 pm
It was a funny bit. Yes, he was mocking Cain, as he does to a lot of politicians. Only problem, if Stewart was a conservative and Cain a liberal, this would be front page on every newspaper and news show, no questions asked. Have no problem with Stewart’s humor–he’s one of the best satirists on TV–I do have a big problem with the liberal double standard on race.
Always Right
June 29th, 2011
4:36 pm
That Jon Stewart bit was so racist that no link is posted here because it would offend the sesibilities on anyone who saw and heard it.
fred
June 29th, 2011
4:38 pm
well said, Justin
Always Right
June 29th, 2011
4:38 pm
Racist bigoted ethnic jokes are okay so long as ones intent is to be funny. Strange new world.
Nate E
June 29th, 2011
4:38 pm
Let me get this straight… A fairly accurate impersonation of Cain is automatically racist? I would understand if Stewart overexaggerated with some sort of “ebonics” dialect, but this was seriously nothing.
FYI I also take issue with liberals who automatically pull the “race card” out on every issue.
neo
June 29th, 2011
4:40 pm
If the shoes were on the other feet (Stewart a repub and Cain a dem) this would be racist fodder for all media 24/7. This much is certain.
Terry
June 29th, 2011
4:40 pm
Baxter so true.
Look how much all the white liberals from Massachusetts hate blacks. They absolutely can’t stand them & are pretty forward about it.
Downtym
June 29th, 2011
4:40 pm
I always forget why I don’t read the comments and then I read the comments.
Justin
June 29th, 2011
4:40 pm
@John, thank you. I’ve never seen a president get such a pass in comedy–newspaper cartoons included–than our current president. They are most definitely afraid of being called racists. I would like to see those instances you ask for, too…And no, Stewart’s comments were not racist. They were quite funny and deserved. But, if some Fox pundit, Rush or some conservative comedian had said the same thing about a liberal, he’d be branded a racist in seconds.
Nick Wright
June 29th, 2011
4:41 pm
No, Jon Stewart was doing a Herman Cain impression of Herman Cain. This is as dumb as people fighting off criticism of Sarah Palin by calling it misogynistic.
jim
June 29th, 2011
4:42 pm
Hey Rodney, lose the hat. Great on the “Rat Pack”, not so good on you.
ron banged
June 29th, 2011
4:43 pm
Jonesis said “What really has Stewart pi$$ed is that Wallace nailed him on the head. Stewart doesn’t just want to be a comedian, he wants to influence ideologies and shape the political arena into his liking. That is what has Johnny boy’s panties in a wad.”
Yes, Stewart is a hubris filled failed comic. The whole Rally to Restore Sanity suffered because he wanted to make some grand point to prove his political manhood. Every time he does his little “giggling to himself, snickering into his sleeve, aren’t I so smart” routine I want to throw up. And he is a racist because he thinks Jewish intellectuals are the smartest people on the planet, everybody else is second rate and not one of the chosen people. You can tell every time he has someone Jewish on the show.
BIGGUNS
June 29th, 2011
4:45 pm
You know, I really hate this. Please add him to the list including Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, Tiger Woods etc. etc. who live their life in a racial vacuum completely ABSENT of any black culture or people (including girlfriends), and then try to holler racism in the same damn society they are helping to perpetuate. Textbook definition of a “House N.-.I.-.G.-.G.-.E.-.R. Especially being a Republican “black”. Coonery is alive and well in GA !
Always Right
June 29th, 2011
4:46 pm
voice of reason
June 29th, 2011
4:31 pm
You obviously don’t know the difference between being humorous and being mean. Jon Stewart was being mean. He was crude and ignorant and should be required to apologize to keep his job. If you are a racist I can see how you might think his remarks were funny.
Barry Obama
June 29th, 2011
4:46 pm
Everybody is working. Your home values have increased. Gasoline is affordable. Our troops are home. Guantanomo Bay is closed.
Vote for Barry O in 2012 ! Change is good !
Big Jim
June 29th, 2011
4:46 pm
Godfather’s was crappy. Cain had a forgettable football career.
He’ll be forgotten soon enough. Bye,Herman.
The real question
June 29th, 2011
4:48 pm
What does Colbert think about all of this?
Justin
June 29th, 2011
4:49 pm
@Rodney, don’t listen to the haters. The hat is cool.
Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele
June 29th, 2011
4:50 pm
@BAXTER my bibble. You make a very astute bibble. But did you also notice that the conservative states are the ones where white bibbles tried to enslave black bibbles? They’re also the states that made black bibbles go to different bibbles and ride in the back of bibbles all so white bibbles could live in all-white neighborbibbles and go to all white schools.
For bibble my bibbles, Beef Stew made a bunch of good points about Fox Bibble. If you’d watch the show you’d see he also made good points about Anthony Weiner-bibble, CNBibbleC, MSNBibbleC, CNN, Obibble, Pelosi-bibble, George W Bibble (a.k.a. Wibble). He makes fun of Demobibbles and Republibibbles. Don’t get your bibbles all bent out of bibble when Beff Stew rags on your particular bibble.
Bibble out, y’all.
jim
June 29th, 2011
4:52 pm
We need more non-politically correct people out there. Grow some backbone cry-babies! Offend everyone. Who cares?! Actually offend everyone and you don’t have to worry about some crybaby calling you rascist. Well, yeah you do, because that’s the crybabies 1st defense for everything in life. Heck, it’s meaningless nowadays after “crying wolf” with that saying so much.
Billy
June 29th, 2011
4:52 pm
O-me.
Never said MSNBC was any different or better. This is a story about Fox News.
Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele
June 29th, 2011
4:54 pm
@Ron Banged… I think anti-semitism went out of bibble a long bibble ago. Ragging on Jews aint cool my bibble. We’re all bibbles on this great big bibble called Earth. Bibble?
Thats the problem with America today. We’re all “bibble you” and “no, bibble you” but do we ever stop to figure out whats really going bibble? If we could just stop bibbling for one bibble and see that deep down we’re all the same bibbles. I think the world would be a better bibble for you and me and all the other bibbles that be bibbling out bibble.
Louis FaraKKKan
June 29th, 2011
4:57 pm
Jews have been mimicking Blacks since the days they sold us on the auction block !
David Dukes
June 29th, 2011
4:59 pm
I don’t see anything wrong with what Jon said.
Billy
June 29th, 2011
5:00 pm
“Most informed, educated, sensible people took that as meaning the TRUTH”
The truth according to FNC.
So now Im uninformed, and uneducated, and a liar. You so-called conservatives love to throw out the names.
Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele
June 29th, 2011
5:00 pm
@Louis: My bibble, I think the bibbles that were selling our ancestors at the auction bibble were Christian. After all, Jew-bibbles were’t welcome in the South for the longest time. It’s ok my bibble, there’s place in the Republican Bibble for every kind of bibble. Except gay-bibbles, Latino-bibbles, and bibbles that think the Constitution wasn’t written by my main bibble, baby Jesus.
voice of reason
June 29th, 2011
5:05 pm
@Always Right – I understand the difference between humor and mean spirited comments. I’ll give you examples.
Here’s an example of humor – I’ll make all bills less than 3 pages. The quality of the humor is debatable but it’s humor nonetheless. For an example of a mean-spirited comment, I’ll borrow directly from your words – “if you’re racist, then you might think it’s funny.”
You don’t have to agree with my sense of humor but it’s a stretch, at best, to conclude I’m a racist because I don’t find it funny. For the record, I’m black. Try again.
voice of reason
June 29th, 2011
5:09 pm
Oops, the last paragraph should have read:
You don’t have to agree with my sense of humor but it’s a stretch, at best, to conclude I’m racist because I don’t find it offensive. For the record, I’m black. Try again.
ron banged
June 29th, 2011
5:12 pm
@Michael Steele-You are making my point. When it comes to Jon Stewart and any other Jew he has on the show, they agree with each other that they are the brightest, funniest people on the planet. According to Stewart, all people are equal, except some are more equal than others. And the some that are more equal are Jews.
Confused
June 29th, 2011
5:14 pm
Every liberal I work with lives on Atlanta’s northside in lily white neighborhoods with low taxes, but they espouse high taxes, more government and diversity.
Typical liberals.
Historicus
June 29th, 2011
5:18 pm
Mr. Farakan is somewhat correct. It was Muslim Africans that sold captured Blacks into slavery, who were transported to the colonies by the Spanish and Portueguese, and sold on the auction block by Jewish merchants and investers to the planters that needed the cheap labor on the sugar and cotton plantations.
Ironically, slavery continues on the African continent this very day, courtesy of the Muslims.
mike smith
June 29th, 2011
5:19 pm
Just another scared and pitiful Liberal hating on conservative values. Herman would kick his butt in a debate about capitalism and free market enterprise but of course Stewart wouldn’t want that. He likes to hide behind the “comedian” facade!
get out much?
June 29th, 2011
5:20 pm
Makes you wonder who the bigger fool is: the fool or the one who argues with him.
Terry
June 29th, 2011
5:21 pm
Liberalism always comes first, not cultural heritage or background.
It still dumbfounds me why Jewish people vote liberal when that party is against their home country, against businesses which they heavily invest in and ran the segregated south during the 1960’s. Unreal.
aps
June 29th, 2011
5:26 pm
There is no one out there that actually knows what the definition of racism is any longer. No one listens to the “racist” label because the line has been so blurred. It’s a cry wolf thing now and people are tired of it.
Tell the truth
June 29th, 2011
5:32 pm
Poor Faux news and poor Herman Cain- put your big boy pants on pal. Deal with it. And you Faux news – you are already the biggest joke this side of El rushbo.
The Promised Land
June 29th, 2011
5:32 pm
Why Jews continue to support Democrats is beyond me.
Israel does not have a friend in the White House, and the anti-semitism spewing from the Hollywood left and liberal media is quite frightening.
Youknowitstrue
June 29th, 2011
5:32 pm
Stewart just needs to shut up already about politics and stick to comedy. As if his show wasn’t lame enough as it is. No one takes anything he says seriously anyway. And the ones that do need a reality check, seriously.
gm
June 29th, 2011
5:33 pm
John, has made fun of every one, rep as well as dem.
The person thats guilty of bias and anti American is Sean Hannity, night after night all he does is look for ways to discredit the office of the President.
This guy night after night shows you why he is a 3 times college drop out, the guy never gives his bigots audience facts, he never reports anything good that comes out of the Obama adminstration, he is the worst American in this country, of course next to the ex top 10 Dj rush the fat boss hog.
howard
June 29th, 2011
5:36 pm
I am a big Stewart fan…I listened to this show….his effort to mimic Cain was a bit “Amos and Andy” so in that way it was a bad Cain impression. However, all of his impressions are bad and therein lies the humor….like it or not. He is not a racist….just a bad impressionist…funny, but bad. Was it in good taste, probably not. Was it insulting…in this case I’d have to say maybe. Was it intended to be so…no.
Adam
June 29th, 2011
5:58 pm
THIS is the reason why Herman Cain has no shot of winning or even elevating his national profile to have a shot at winning another office one day. This episode indicates that he lacks a fundamental understanding of where this country is at in its dialogue on race and politics.
Regardless of whether you like his politics or not, has Obama ever, EVER accused anyone of being racially insensitive towards him? He hasn’t done it, not one time. Think about it, has Obama ever called anyone out and even intimated that their comments were even racially insensitive?
Whether you like him or not, objective observers of politics have to acknowledge that President Obama’s refusal to “play the race card” even when he would be justified in doing it, helped distinguish him from being a “black” candidate to just being a candidate.
If you want to be a “problem solver” Mr. Cain, then be a problem solver, you don’t need to lecture on racial insensitivity. If you ever want to be a serious candidate, PLENTY of people will do that for you. Juan Williams, Boortz, Hannity, Limbaugh… all of these people have vigorously defended conservatives who are people of color from racially insensitive/hypocritical comments from the left. They will support you too.
But, when you offer the criticism yourself (and, let’s not be naieve, no one believes you when you say, “I’m not playing the race card” when you’re accusing someone of acting like notorious racists) you don’t look like a serious candidate. You look like you (1) can’t take a joke and (2) are trying to interject a critique on race to elevate your national profile.
In other words, taking such offense to this, even though it may be unfair, makes you look like Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, other African American candidates who are not serious contenders.
Herman Cain, you just marginalized yourself. I hope you learn a lesson from this because I think your opinions would interject a fresh perspective in the national debate. But you won’t be around for very long if you keep this up.
Terry
June 29th, 2011
5:58 pm
Yea I see that the hypocite Stewart is ingnoring the flash mobs that the national media is also scared to touch.
Of course we know the reasons why. This stuff is totally out of control. This country is definitely at a crossroads.
It will not hit the media until one of the business owners pulls out a gun & starts shooting the criminals.
Barrett
June 29th, 2011
6:01 pm
“You know, I really hate this. Please add him to the list including Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, Tiger Woods etc. etc. who live their life in a racial vacuum completely ABSENT of any black culture or people (including girlfriends), and then try to holler racism in the same damn society they are helping to perpetuate. Textbook definition of a “House N.-.I.-.G.-.G.-.E.-.R. Especially being a Republican “black”. Coonery is alive and well in GA !”
Yep. He is not a real black man. Obama is a real black man. Has a white mom and a communist father that left. Then was raised by more communist white people but he believes in handouts so he is a real black person…. Get a life man. Think outside the box. That’s whats wrong with our black community man. If we go to college we aren’t real black anymore. If we don’t talk with a slang we are “oreo’s”. This is why most black families stay in poverty. This big cycle of handouts. I have been made fun of my whole life because I don’t wear my pants around my ankles(that started in prison to show who the “girlfriends” were). But keep on supporting this president and be opposed to anyone that is black and doesn’t fit the mold… you’ll stay right were you are.