‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ Played Way Too Fast and Loose With Trump’s Latest Slur

It’s official: the President is in favor of using slurs to describe his political opponents, but that doesn’t mean that they should use them, too.

In what has become one of the greatest cultural victories for anti-woke comedians everywhere, the r-slur, long considered to be cruel and insensitive towards people with intellectual disabilities, is now the hottest playground insult on Capitol Hill. On Thanksgiving, President Donald Trump called Minnesota governor Tim Walz “serious r-----ed” in a rant on Truth Social, earning uproarious cheers from the Right and follow-up quips from the Left.

During Jon Stewart’s coverage of Trump's Thanksgiving on last night's new episode of The Daily Show, the comedian took an uncharacteristically flippant approach to reacting to Trump's casual use of a hateful slur, one which our culture considered to be completely unacceptable just a decade ago. Surprisingly, Stewart took issue with the other word in Trump's description of Walz, joking, “Seriously r-----ed?” Not even playfully r-----ed, like Mr. Bean?"

“Or celebratorily r-----ed, like the Black Eyed Peas song?” Stewart continued, referencing the pop group's since-sanitized 2003 “Let's Get it Started.” Then, after dropping one more r-slur while doing an impression of Ken Burns making a documentary about Trump's second term, Stewart moved on to Trump's other outrageous comments from the weekend.

Clearly, finger-wagging aT far-right figures who drop slurs like this isn't the answer – hell, the entire reason Trump and his friends use the r-word is to invoke a triggered reaction from the more politically correct Left. But playing along with the casual reintroduction of a slur that demeans and dehumanizes some of the most vulnerable members of our society simply isn't something we expected from Stewart.

Back in October, Trump's ally Kid Rock used the r-word to describe people who wear face masks to stop the spread of COVID during an appearance on Jesse Watters Primetime, sending the host into a giggling fit. Soon afterwards, the Special Olympics published an open letter to Kid Rock, with Chief Inspiration Officer and decorated Special Olympian Loretta Claiborne writing, “The R-Word deeply demeans and harms people with intellectual disabilities. I’m writing to you personally with an urgent request: please acknowledge the hurt caused and use this moment to stand with us in rejecting that word and the prejudice it represents.”

“You have a powerful voice and a massive platform, and the world is watching. As an artist and cultural figure who influences millions, you can shape conversations and attitudes across this country,” Claiborne continued, “People with intellectual disabilities, one of the largest groups of people with disabilities in the world, have suffered generations of discrimination and humiliation. In the 21st century, we’re still continuing to fight for the simplest form of justice: the recognition of our full humanity, a recognition you undermine when you use the word retard.”

Now, no one tuned into The Daily Show last night in hopes of hearing Stewart deliver a sobering monologue on the harm that the widespread use of hateful language causes to vulnerable communities. But, at the same time, it's seriously disheartening to hear Stewart toss around the r-word as casually as Trump did on social media, even if his intention was to mock Trump, not people with intellectual disabilities.

No one should even need to explain why normalizing the use of the r-word on social media and on television is a huge step backwards for the intellectual disabilities community in America – but, if Stewart still hasn't gotten the message, I'm sure the Special Olympics can send him a note.