Jon Stewart Bassem Youssef Split - H 2013
Getty ImagesWith the man known as the Egyptian Jon Stewart in trouble, the American original stood up for his right to free speech.
During a segment on Monday night’s edition of The Daily Show, Stewart blasted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi for his government’s arrest and interrogation of Bassem Youssef, a satirist who has continually poked fun at the country’s various regimes during a tumultuous several years.
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Morsi’s government took action against Youssef after he ribbed the president over a large, goofy hat he received during an honorary degree ceremony and his less-than-stellar command of the English language.
“Making fun of the president’s hats and less-than-fluent English?” Stewart mugged, “That was all I did for eight years!” he continued, nodding at his rise to fame making fun of former President George W. Bush.
“You’re the president of Egypt, the inheritor of one the greatest lands and people in recorded people,” Stewart told Morsi. “You invented civilization!”
Stewart continued to push Morsi, charging that he would not be in power had it not been for Youssef and the protestors of the Arab Spring. Then, he went out on a limb to display just how little power a satirist actually has, adding that The Daily Show had never toppled a government, stopped a war or even silenced CNBC’s Jim Cramer.
Sure, he was being a bit humble, but the point was clear: democracy without satire, isn’t. Youssef, for his part, is well aware of his own importance and has vowed to continue with his show and pointed humor.
“This kind of program is extremely new to the region. We have actually created a huge impact in the region,” he told CBS News on Sunday. “We are destroying taboos and taking away the holiness of the leadership through satire, through humor,” he explained on Monday. “So I think many people up there are panicking, and they don’t know how to deal with it.”
