‘What The Actual F**k’: Jon Stewart Hits Out At Labour For Dropping Candidate Who Liked His 2014 Israel Skit On Social Media
U.S. comedian Jon Stewart stepped out to blast the Labour Party’s decision to block candidate Faiza Shaheen from standing in the upcoming general election after the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) flagged an old ‘liked’ tweet featuring his 2014 Israel skit.
“This is the dumbest thing The UK has done since electing [former Prime Minister] Boris Johnson… what the actual fuck…” he wrote.
Shaheen, an economist and academic, was selected to run in Chingford & Woodford Green and had been campaigning door to door in the weeks following the birth of her baby only to learn via email on Wednesday night that her candidacy would not be supported.
In the skit, from 2014, Stewart attempts to discuss Israel on The Daily Show. As soon as he mentions Israel, co-hosts Jordan Klepper and Jessica Williams, posing as media commentators, bombard him with accusations of anti-Semitism, calling him a “self-hating Jew.”
Frustrated, Stewart says: “Every time you say something even mildly critical of Israel, you’re immediately assailed by scores of hysterical people who explain to you why you’re completely wrong, how you’re biased against Israel.”
Despite trying to explain that questioning Israel’s policies isn’t equivalent to supporting Hamas, Stewart faces further abuse. Frustrated, he eventually crumples his notes, giving up on the conversation.
The sketch, parodying discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has gone viral again amid debates on Israel’s war against Hamas.
Appearing on BBC Newsnight, host Victoria Derbyshire read out the tweet flagged by the JLM as problematic. The JLM said that it had “received a number of complaints about the tweet… from local Jewish members who are concerned about the tone of Ms Shaheen’s tweets.’”
Derbyshire went on to read out a quote from Stewart’s skit.
In her defence, Shaheen said she did not recall liking the tweet but said: “I was looking, if you see that tweet, it was a retweet of a Jon Stewart sketch. I watched the Jon Stewart sketch. But I wouldn’t have even ordinarily liked that. Honestly, it was the middle of the night, if you look at the timing. I was probably with the baby, breastfeeding. I don’t even remember liking that tweet.”
“But you know what’s wrong with it, don’t you?” the host pressed.
Shaheen replied: “I know what’s wrong with it, of course… The line that’s there about the… you know, their own professional organisations, it plays into a trope. And I absolutely don’t agree with that. And I’m sorry about that. And I expressed that I was sorry in that meeting yesterday over my crying baby.”
The former candidate went on to explain that the conclusion of her accusers was at odds with her work: “But, you know, that’s one tweet. I’ve organised an interfaith vigil with a local rabbi after the attacks, Hamas’ attack, and brought the imam together.”
She added: “I’ve done a lot of work. I have a lot of supporters. They wouldn’t tell me how many Jewish members have messaged them because I can tell you there’s a lot more that would offer their support to me, the people that helped co-organize that interfaith vigil.”
The decision has ignited a row within the party with some accusing the Labour Party of trying to “purge” its most left-wing candidates, Shadow minister Darren Jones denied this to the BBC on Wednesday and said most candidates for the party would class themselves as left-wing.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was suspended in 2020 for his response to anti-Semitism findings, voiced support for Shaheen and former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott.
Left-wing group Momentum echoed Corbyn and accused Labour of “institutional racism” for targeting women of colour like Shaheen and Abbott.
The Labour Muslim Network also ripped the decision as “clear islamophobia.”
Watch BBC Newsnight and Stewart’s original Daily Show skit above.
