Although world leaders have rushed to defend Charlie Hebdo in the wake of the attack on the magazine, it wasn’t long before some noticed a bit of hypocrisy in the waters.
In the most recent instance, France–in-between French President François Hollande’s declarations about “freedom of expression”–arrested an anti-Semitic comedian. The comedian, Dieudonné M’Bala M’bala, had mocked “Je suis Charlie” on his Facebook, proclaiming “I am Charlie Coulibaly,” referring to gunman Amedy Coulibaly who attacked a Kosher supermarket.
“Je suis confused,” Stewart quipped. “Arresting someone for saying something days after a rally supporting the right of free expression—it’s a little weird.”
Stewart also wondered why, exactly, France needed to shut down an anti-Semite with the police, rather than their wallets: “So French authorities had to cancel his tour because he does an anti-Semitic routine? Shouldn’t that tour have been canceled because no one was buying tickets—for the anti-Semitic comedy show? Shouldn’t that be a marketplace situation?”
He also couldn’t resist taking a final shot at Chik-Fil-A: “Generally we express our political outrage at objectionable ideas…through the purchasing or non-purchasing of certain litmus test sandwiches—Chik-Fil-A, for example.”
Watch the clip below:
